Khushi Doshi
Published on: March 13, 2022 at 12:43 IST
The Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association has filed a complaint with the Bombay High Court against food outlets that are operating “illegally” on food delivery apps such as Swiggy, Dunzo and Zomato.
The Petition, filed under Article 226 of the Constitution, requests that a First Information Report be registered against the applications and that a thorough investigation be launched. The Plea also asks for the suspension of all organisations that have not obtained licences under Section 394 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act until they meet all of the conditions and obtain the licences.
Bundl Technologies (Swiggy), Zomato Ltd, Dunzo Digital Pvt Ltd, Thirst Crow Marketing Services, Shadowfax Technologies Pvt Ltd, Lala Move, and Sefast India Pvt Ltd are among the applications (WeFast). According to the Petition, several such outlets arose during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the complaint, the municipal authorities’ inaction against such outlets creates an artificial distinction between two groups of similarly situated businesses.
The first are those that operate legally by having all of the necessary permissions and licences, and the second are those that operate illegally, according to the Plea.
The Petitioners claim that while they have been forced to spend crores of rupees on restaurant investments in order to obtain the necessary Licences, unlicensed outlets have failed to comply with such requirements.
It requests that a Public Notice be issued to all unlicensed Restaurants, Food Parcel Kitchens, Food vendors on roads, and food vendors on buildings for being sued under Order 1 Rule 8 of the Civil Procedure Code.
Furthermore, health officers in each Municipal Ward must be held accountable for taking Strict Legal action if any eating establishments are found to be operating without a licence.
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