"Shaan of Delhi cannot be shut over a Certificate": HC lets Khan Market Restaurants run without Fire NOC, but only 50 Guests at a time

The Delhi High Court has thrown a lifeline to some of the capital's most iconic dining establishments, including Perch, Khan Chacha, Starbucks, Yum Yum Cha, Anglow, and Sly Granny, ruling that restaurants in the prestigious Khan Market cannot be forced to shut down solely for want of a fire No Objection Certificate, provided they cap their occupancy at 50 guests at any given time. The order, passed by Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, carries immediate relief for an entire heritage commercial precinct that had been living under the threat of coercive closure action despite holding all other requisite approvals.

The dispute had been brewing for years, with Khan Market restaurant owners approaching the court after authorities began insisting on strict fire NOC compliance, a requirement the establishments argued was structurally impossible to meet given the heritage architecture of the market, which has only a single feasible entry and exit point for the first and second floors where the restaurants operate. The restaurants contended that they did not qualify as "assembly buildings" under the Unified Building Bylaws 2016, a classification triggered only when a premises accommodates 50 or more guests, and that health trade licences had historically been granted to them on the basis of a sub-50 seating capacity, making the sudden insistence on a 1.8 square metre occupant load factor an arbitrary and inconsistent shift in the regulatory goalposts.

A coordinate bench had previously stayed all coercive action while the matter was pending, and the NDMC had since moved to dispense with the mandatory health trade licence requirement subject to other compliances, rendering the core licensing dispute largely academic.

Justice Kaurav found the structural reality of Khan Market impossible to ignore and the restaurants' position entirely credible. Acknowledging the market's heritage character and its singular architectural constraint, the court observed, "The shops are situated in one of Delhi's most prestigious and historically significant commercial areas. Because of the structural constraints, the entire market has only one feasible entry and exit point for first and second floor where the restaurants are located. This feature is in existence since the inception." 

Accepting the restaurants' undertaking to cap occupancy below 50 guests and to comply with any fire safety mechanism directed by civic authorities, the court further directed that no action on account of fire NOC non-compliance shall be given effect to without 30 days' prior notice, ensuring a window for legal recourse. The batch of writ petitions was accordingly disposed of.