India, June 6 -- Even as investigators examine how a "tea and snacks" licence was allegedly used to operate a full-fledged restaurant inside the Hauz Rani building where a fire killed 21 people, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has recently deregulated its health trade licensing regime for 67 categories of food-related businesses, making it significantly easier for establishments such as restaurants, bakeries, cafes and tea-and-snack outlets to obtain operating permits, officials aware of the matter said on Friday.

Under the new system, implemented as part of the government's "ease-of-doing-business" reforms, businesses will no longer require a conventional MCD health trade licence and will only need a permit from the Food Safety...