The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) has moved the high court against an order by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the court that said hookah bars could not be shut down till the state enacted a law.

Justice Mantha had last month issued the order following a petition by the National Restaurant Association challenging the move by police in Calcutta and Bidhannagar to shut down hookah bars.

The police action started after Calcutta’s mayor Firhad Hakim said on December 2 that the licence of all hookah bars in the city would be cancelled and no new licences would be issued.

“The appeal is yet to be assigned to any division bench. The date of hearing has not been fixed yet,” said a CMC official.

“In the appeal, we have referred to a section in the CMC Act, 1980, that allows the civic body to act against anything that is a nuisance to the city. We have said in our appeal that the hookah bars are a nuisance,” the official said.