Delhi restaurants allowed to serve food in open spaces, terrace as MCD eases licensing norms

New Delhi: People in Delhi will now be able to enjoy open-air dining at their favourite restaurants with the MCD allowing the use of open spaces and terraces for serving food, albeit with some restrictions.

According to an official document, eateries in the national capital with terraces and open dining spaces will also not require any additional fire safety certificate from the Delhi Fire Service as long as certain conditions laid by the authority concerned have been met.

“The MCD has approved the grant of licence for use of open space and terrace for dining purpose. In supersession of all earlier orders, servicing of food is now allowed in open space and terraces,” said an official order issued on November 4.

“In case of open space on the ground floor, no additional fire NOC will be required. In the case of open space on upper floors, no additional fire NOC is required for the eating establishment having an area of 90 square metres and already in possession of fire NOC.

In the case of open space on upper floors, fire NOC is required if the existing eating establishment is having an area of less than 90 sq. meters but with the addition of open space, the total area becomes 90 sq. meters or more, it added.

According to the guidelines laid down by the civic body, no cooking or preparation of eatables shall be allowed in the open space, terrace, or part terrace.

“The act of drinking in the open space/terrace by the persons sitting therein should not be visible to the passerby.

“If the open space is visible from other nearby high places, whether within the same building or in the surroundings, additional measures will be taken to obstruct the visibility from such high places.

“The licensee shall ensure that the persons using the open space/terrace do not indulge in any activity such as throwing articles outside which may be a cause of disturbance to the outsiders/passerby,” it said.

It also mandated that the terrace which is to be used as a service area shall not be covered with any temporary/permanent structure while adding that fast food stalls, ice cream parlours, paan and bidi stalls, etc shall not be permitted.

“No music beyond the permissible limit and no live performance will be allowed. Access to the overhead tank shall not be obstructed at any point,” it stressed.

Laying down the norms, the MCD said that when a terrace is allowed for dining and food serving purposes, the existing capacity of the eating house approved as per licence given by MCD shall continue to apply.

While stressing that the use of the terrace would not imply permission for additional seating capacity, it said the seating capacity at the terrace would be included while counting the utilisation of the seating capacity.

The document said that the total number of guests at the venue should not exceed the permissible seats sanctioned for seating inside the eating house.

“Twenty-five per cent of the total area on the terrace adjacent to a staircase shall be kept vacant, this is necessitated in view of fire safety.

“All staircases of the premises shall be continuous up to the terrace in premises where permission is to be given. Staircase shall be approachable by each and every occupant without any obstruction and hindrance,” the document added.