The Hotels Association heads in the city have demanded that the police let them run restaurants during business and night hours, as it will help the development of the food and tourism department.
Coimbatore: The Hotels Association heads in the city have demanded that the police let them run restaurants during business and at night.
Coimbatore District Hotel Owners Association Secretary M Sivakumar, Deputy Chairman R Balachander, and Treasurer C V Govind addressed a press conference in the city. In the conference, they demanded that the Coimbatore police implement the recent court order on hotel-run time. In a recent order issued by the High Court, it was declared that the restaurant owners are free to fix the time of closure of restaurants at their convenience.
The Madras High Court recently ruled that the police cannot decide the working hours of restaurants under the guise of law and order problems. The court also observed that it was the border duty of police officers to provide proper security to the restaurants and hotels in their areas.
The hotel owners association also highlighted Justice Krishnan Ramasamy pointing out that after the amendment to Section 35 of the Chennai City Police (Amendment) Act, 2007, the police had no power to close restaurants on account of law and order issues. The judge said only the state government has the power to fix the opening and closing hours of food shops, hotels and restaurants and frame rules for the same.
With 250 registered members in the association and thousands of hotel owners with lakhs of employees in Coimbatore district, the recent verdict will benefit in the betterment of the employees, owners, especially the food sector and tourism as Coimbatore has more opportunities for customers during business and night hours.
After 2 years of lockdown, the hotel owners association said it was time to improve the business by extending run time with the support of the police and the state government.