Is it fair to shut down a hotel's licence the moment a housefly or a cockroach is spotted inside? That question sits at the heart of a recent Bombay High Court remark, made while hearing a batch of cases where the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has been suspending hotel licences one after another. The court made it clear that in a country like India, such matters need to be handled with a practical mindset rather than treating a checklist as the final word on whether a licence survives. Hotel licence suspensions had already made headlines in recent days, which is why this observation from the bench is being seen as significant.
What triggered the case
The dispute traces back to last week, when a five star hotel in Navi Mumbai, Park Inn By Radisson Navi Mumbai, approached the Bombay High Court against action taken by the FDA. In its petition, the hotel's management challenged the FDA's decision to suspend its licence. Notably, the hearing is taking place at a time when Maharashtra's FDA, under Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, is running a wide statewide crackdown involving extensive inspections. Because of this backdrop, the court has also asked for a full account of all the inspection drives carried out across the state, so it can understand the basis on which different hotels are being targeted and whether a consistent standard is being applied everywhere.
A judge shares his own experience
The bench of Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad, hearing the matter in a lighter tone, raised the question of what the real yardstick for such action should be. When the discussion turned to insects, the bench recounted that just last week, a large insect had been sitting right on the judge's own desk, and at that very moment a fly was also buzzing around in the courtroom. The bench remarked that nothing extraordinary could really be done about it, because this is India. In this context, the bench orally observed, "We are in India; we need to adopt a practical and realistic approach."
The hotel's lawyer's argument
The lawyer representing the hotel argued that the real issue was never about the presence of one cockroach or even ten cockroaches, but about whether a licence can be suspended purely on the basis of a checklist. The lawyer further contended that before taking a step as serious as suspending a licence, the FDA had failed to record sufficient and concrete reasons in writing to support its decision, something considered necessary for such strict action. The argument was essentially aimed at showing that the process lacked transparency and adequate justification.
What happens next
The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for the coming Friday, when the FDA will need to present the court with details of its inspection drive. Separately, the Maharashtra government has already tightened rules around dance bars, under which hotels, bars and restaurants will no longer be able to exploit loopholes in the law. Together, these two developments point to growing administrative scrutiny of hotel and bar establishments across the state.
