Bengaluru, 31 May 

The Karnataka government has notified a legislation that prohibits hookah bars, raises the legal age for buying tobacco products from 18 to 21 years, and increases the fine for violations.

The notification was issued on 30 May, following the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2024, receiving the President’s assent on 23 May.

The Act that prohibits the use of tobacco products in public places and says no person shall use tobacco products (smoking or spitting) in public areas.

However, a separate provision for smoking area or space can be made for hotels with thirty rooms or a restaurant having seating capacity of thirty persons or more and in airports, it added.

Section 4A of the Act further prohibits opening or running of hookah bars.

According to the Act, "hookah" bar means an establishment or place where people gather to smoke tobacco or other similar products from a communal hookah or narghile, which is provided individually.

The punishment for running a hookah bar is punishable with imprisonment for a term between one and three years and a fine of between Rs 50,000 and Rs one lakh.

The act prohibits the sale of cigarettes or other tobacco products to a person below the age of 21 years and in a particular area.

"It cannot be sold in an area within a radius of one hundred meters of any educational institution; and it cannot be sold in loose or in single sticks," it said.

The fine for smoking in public and for the sale of tobacco for people aged below 21 have been increased from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000.