HC directs TN govt to renew licenses of hotels, restaurants

: Reserving its order on a plea seeking to cancel the licenses of hotels and restaurants functioning without adequate parking facility here, the Madras High Court today directed Tamil Nadu government to renew the licenses of all hotels.
The first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh and Justice RMT Teekaa Raman passed the interim order on the impleading petition filed by Chennai Hotels Association.
The association had moved the court challenging its February 10 order directing closure of hotels and restaurants without adequate parking space.
Following this order, nearly 25 restaurants were shut down by authorities.
When the matter came up today, the bench said,"The list given by the impleading petitioner consisting of 767 hotels and the respondent authorities are directed to renew all the licenses of these hotels by receiving the renewal fee as large number of beneficiaries are covered in the impleading petition.

The impleading members covered in the petition will be transformed as petitioners on payment of Court fees."

The counsel for the impleading petitioners submitted that the Chennai Second Master Plan rightly contemplated different parking requirements for different restaurants based on their size and category.
The Master Plan clearly requires car parking space only proportional to the square feet of floor area and does not contemplate car parking based on number of tables or seating capacity, the petitioners claimed.
They further said that unfortunately misconstruing the earlier order of High Court, the authorities started issuing notices to several small eateries with approximately 500 square feet area or less than that.

Stating that the criteria for car parking as provided in the Second Master Plan should apply only to new restaurants that apply for new trade license, the petitioners sought to modify February 10 order.
The matter relates to a PIL filed by one Raghu of Vyasarpadi, seeking to cancel the licenses of hotels and restaurants that do not provide sufficient parking space.