Delhi LG, VK Saxena, eased the licensing norms of bars and restuarants in the city allowing them to operate throughout day and night, officials said on Saturday. According to officials, "Restaurants and bars in 5 and 4 star hotels will now operate 24x7". They further added that licenses will be granted within 49 days.
"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.
What are the new norms?
As per the new norms, restaurants and eateries around the city in four and five star hotels, including ones at the airport, railway station and ISBT premises operate throughout the day and night. Meanwhile, 3-star hotels will be allowed to operate till 2 am, and in all other categories, they will be able to operate till 1 am.
Other than this, in 5-star and 4-star hotels, the ceiling of only one restaurant getting bar license has been lifted. This will enable such hotels to obtain separate liquor licenses for more than one restaurant/bar serving liquor within the hotel premises on payment of license fee. The number of documents required for getting licenses has been drastically reduced and 28 documents will no longer be required to be uploaded.
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 licenses/NOCs.
Period for grant of licenses increased
In a Common Application Form, 140 fields have been removed making it user-friendly and this 21 pages Form has been reduced to just nine pages. Instead of multiple separate affidavits now, a Single Common Undertaking has been introduced. In a major relief, instead of the earlier system of grant of licenses for one year, the period has been increased to three years for MCD, Delhi Police and Delhi Fire Service and nine years for DPCC.
The grant of licenses have been made time-bound, with a deemed approved clause being inserted, that will ensure that the license has been approved and granted if the concerned agency/official does not take any action on the application within the stipulated time frame. An applicant will be able to get his license 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 licenses was three years in Delhi up till now.
As many as 2,389 new applications for Eating Houses from 2022 and 2121 applications from 2021, are pending as of now. Similarly, 359 applications for Lodging Houses are pending for 2022. 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, officials said.
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