LUCKNOW, Sept. 29 -- A hookah may have water in its base, tobacco in its bowl and charcoal on top, but restaurants and cafes cannot legally offer it as a service, even inside a designated smoking area, the Allahabad high court's Lucknow bench ruled on Tuesday.

In a judgment dismissing 80 petitions filed by restaurant and hookah bar owners, the court held that a designated smoking area (DSA) is only a separate enclosure where customers can smoke on their own. The establishment cannot prepare or serve hookah there, or send a waiter inside to provide food or even water.

A double bench of Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary held that the fundamental right of non-smokers to breathe clean air in public places outweighs...