Licensing norms eased in Delhi to push night-time economy; restro-bars in 5, 4-star hotels to operate 24×7

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Restro-bars in four and five-star hotels in the national capital will soon operate round-the-clock, and clubs can also serve liquor to their guests till 1 am, in what is seen as a big push to the hospitality sector as part of an ambitious plan to boost the city’s night-time economy.

On the eve of New Year, Lt Governor V K Saxena gave his go-ahead to a liberalised licensing regime, allowing extended hours of opening of bars and restaurants, simplifying application process with less paperwork, which will come into force from January 26.

An official said applicants will get a licence within 49 days, failing which a deemed approval will be given, adding that instead of submitting multiple separate affidavits under the existing system, only single common undertaking will be introduced.

The number of documents for getting a licence has also been drastically reduced and 28 documents will no longer be required.

Under the new norms, all restaurants and eating houses in five and four star hotels, those within airport, railway station and ISBT premises will be permitted to operate round-the-clock basis after payment of necessary fee. In three-star hotels, they will be allowed to operate till 2 am, and in all other categories, they will be able to operate till 1 am. Additionally, in five-star and four-star hotels, the ceiling of only one restaurant getting bar license has also been lifted. This will enable such hotels to obtain separate liquor licence for more than one bar serving liquor within the hotel premises on payment of licence fee.

The National Restaurant Association of India welcomed the move, but said that such norms should be announced for other categories of hotels too.

“We are happy and it is a positive news thaat such step has been announced by the LG but we are hoping that it should be announced in normal hotels as well. The move will help in increasing the business and promote the night economy,” said NRAI treasurer Manpreet Singh.

An official said that applicants will be able to get their licence within a maximum of 49 days, with minimum human interface, instead of the earlier unlimited time frame that resulted in an applicant running from pillar to post and getting harassed. The average time for grant of new licence was three years in Delhi.

According to official data, 2,389 new applications for eating houses received in 2022 and 2,121 applications since 2021 are pending. Similarly, 359 applications for lodging houses received throughout 2022 are pending.

The official said that under the new system, grant of licence issued by Delhi Police, MCD and fire services has been increased to three years against the existing one year period of time.

The period of licence issued by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee has also been extended to nine years, which is currently issued for one year under the existing norms.

Instead of the earlier system, where different agencies followed different calendars — financial year or calendar year — all four agencies that include MCD, Delhi Police, Delhi Fire Services and DPCC will now follow the coterminous financial year ending March 31 for the purpose of issuing and validity of licences/NOCs. Saxena in November set up a high powered committee to ease and facilitate licence requirements for restaurants/eateries, and directed it to examine the existing regulations and suggest ways of expediting the licensing processes. After the submission of the report by the committee, it took several rounds of meetings to finally concretise the liberalised regulations, officials said.

These will now be sent to the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to bring about necessary changes in the new application undertaking and uploaded on the MHA licensing portal. “This is expected to be done in the next three weeks, and come January 26, entrepreneurs in the national capital will be able to avail of this new progressive, business-friendly and liberalised licensing regime in Delhi,” an official said.

According to officials, in what will come as a major breather for the license seekers, in a common application form, 140 fields have been removed making it user-friendly and the earlier 21 page form has been reduced to just nine pages. “In order to minimise frivolous filing of applications multiple times, Processing Fee of Rs 1,000 will have to be deposited at time of submission of online application form for grant of fresh license,” one of the officials said.

Various industry bodies and restaurant/hotel associations had met the L-G and conveyed their concerns due to the red tape ridden licensing regime in Delhi, the official said. “These changes will give much-needed boost to ‘Night Time Economy’ and will ensure more employment and economic activity in the city and ensure that the entrepreneurs in Delhi, who are losing business to their counterparts in NCR, due to archaic and restrictive licensing regime in the Capital, retain and augment their clientele and benefit financially,” said the official.

The new rules approved by Saxena also stipulate that applications for banquet halls will not be looked into by Delhi Police and applications for eating establishments having an area of less than 90 sq.m and lodging establishments below a height of 12 metres will not be looked into by Delhi Fire Services, anymore.

The documentation process has also been eased with LG approving doing away with furnishing documents like agency specific affidavit, Liquor license proof, VAT registration, weight and measures licence, MCD affidavit, DPCC capital investment affidavit, water bill, electricity bill, Registration under shops & establishment Act, affidavit regarding smoking area, location map, DPCC project report, proof of allotment of plot, ESI establishment registration proof, EPF registration proof, music licence etc.

Earlier compliance certificates with respect to fire safety, environmental norms, structural and electrical safety and other safety aspects were obtained by Delhi Police before issuing licence but such compliances will be looked after by the respective agencies now.

Punitive actions like suspension, cancellation, revocation, cessation of operations and prosecution on any violation of license, registration certificate/NOC granted under relevant statutes shall be the domain of the respective agencies as per their own regulations and acts, unlike the previous system when police could look into and act on either of these.

To weed out complaints of corruption and harassment, the police verification system has been made faceless and online with Special Branch of the Delhi Police being assigned the task as opposed to the earlier system when local police stations were involved.