KARACHI, Oct 4 After the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo motu notice of the poor standard of food and hygiene in the restaurants and hotels of Lahore, the federal ministry of tourism is now trying to reinvigorate its workforce, as field officers concerned at present have no way of tackling food safety issues independently.

Sources privy to hotel stakeholders said that the ministry of tourism has lately reactivated the Department of Tourist Services (DTS) which is supposed to ensure the implementation of the Pakistan Hotels and Restaurants (PH&R) Act, 1976. It has been said inspection teams have been formed for surprise checking of the establishments in question across the country.

The controller of the DTS Islamabad has also issued warnings to the owners of unregistered hotels and restaurants for immediate registration as per the law or face stern action, including imposition of heavy penalties.

Only 646 hotels registered in three decades

Since the introduction of the PH&R Act and PH&R Rules 1977, the office of the deputy controller of Sindh DTS in Karachi could register only about 650 hotels and restaurants in the province. Hundreds of other such establishments continue to run lucrative businesses without getting registered with the DTS regional office.

A source in the department said that hotels had been cooperative regarding registration; however, restaurants hadn't.

The failure of the government can be attributed to factors like non-delegation of magisterial powers and the absence of a prosecution force, limited field officers and resources needed for their effectiveness, absence of technical facilities and laboratories for examination of the quality and standard of food and beverages and the inclusion of tourism and hotels in the list of federal concurrent subjects.

It was in 1976 that the then government enacted a set of measures for controlling and regulating the standards of services and amenities for tourists in hotels and restaurants and for matters ancillary thereto or connected therewith.

In the light of the Act followed by rules made by the federal government in 1977, it can be said that the PH&R Act applies to all hotels and restaurants in Pakistan and seeks to regulate the rates and standard of any service for tourists in hotels and restaurants. Among various provisions, the sale of food or beverages that are contaminated not prepared hygienically and served in utensils that are not hygienic or clean is an offence.

'Consumers can't lodge complaints'

A consumer right activist, however, noted that the law does not specifically give the right to consumers to lodge a complaint or like other food laws it does not provide for compensation to consumers in case of damages.

Other laws that directly focus on food safety issues are The Pure Food Ordinance, 1960, which consolidates and amends the law in relation to the preparation and sale of foods, and The Cantonment Pure Food Act. There is another legal provision for formulating and enforcing certain standards for quality, specifications and characteristics during the use, import and export of food items.

As far as the utility of the federal act and rules specifically made for hotels and restaurants, it was said that initially it provided a greater scope to monitor the hoteliers and restaurant business but with the passage of time things changed or could not be touched due to the apathy of government officials.

On Sept 10, 2009 a division bench of the Supreme Court took notice of unhygienic conditions in kitchens of hotels and restaurants of Lahore and gave the Ministry of Tourism one month to improve the situation.

There is a general impression that now the focus is to simply register hotels or restaurants and recover the relevant fees, with the least concern for the determination of fair rates, checking and fitness of the food stuff and drinks these establishments serve or health inspection of the staff or testing of articles or appliances used.

An insider said that since the federal government has no sufficient system of monitoring hotels and restaurants and checking the standards of services and quality of food and kitchens on its own. It would be advisable to delegate the powers of quality-checking to the respective local or provincial governments which at least have got some sort of public analyst laboratories.

Shortage of resources

The Sindh office of the DTS has four field inspectors for the whole of Sindh who visit their respective allotted jurisdiction to get the new hotels and restaurants registered under the PH&R Act and Rules. They do not touch the “musafir khana/serai” or “manjhi hotels” at all.

When contacted the deputy controller of the DTS Karachi, Shamsul Matin, said any person or organisation willing to open a hotel or restaurant was required to get their establishment registered with the DTS under the laws. “So far we have been able to register 154 hotels and 492 restaurants, while almost another 388 restaurants across Sindh are fleecing the government and paying no heed to notices issued to them,” he said, adding that yet another 400 restaurants were being issued notices for registration.He said that his regional office started a campaign against hotels and restaurants which did not conform to the required standard of health and were found to be unhygienic. “All hotels are informed that they should serve food and beverages with sufficient care to ensure protection against contamination through flies and unclean utensils otherwise they will face strict action and their business can be sealed,” he added firmly.

He said that during the years the scope or subject of action for them had reduced to three or four. “Now we are focusing on the hygiene of kitchens and dining halls of the hotels and restaurants and facilities like air-conditioning and seats.”

Admitting that his department did not possess the necessary number of staff and laboratories or mechanisms for testing of food and the strength to compel the violators of the law to ensure the needed rectification on their part, Mr Matin said that hotels and restaurants were being asked to provide certificates pertaining to the quality of food they served to their clients and consumers issued by a government agency.

In the meantime, it has been learnt that a senior official of the tourism ministry has also informed, among others the chief secretary of Sindh, IG Police Sindh and the secretary of the Sindh tourism department to extend their support in the campaign aimed at improving the hotel and restaurant businesses in line with the directives of the SC.

The federal government has requested authorities in Sindh to issue necessary orders to the police officers and district coordination officers concerned to extend maximum help through the provision of escorts and deputing of provincial food inspectors with the DTS teams in order to make the campaign more effective and fruitful.

About the working of the City District Government of Karachi under the West Pakistan Pure Food Ordinance 1960/Rules 1965 (as adapted in Sindh), it is said that the city government's executive district officer for health issues a licence to eating houses with the conditions that the licensee will comply with the Act and Rules in question and abide by the provisions of relevant bye-laws of the defunct Karachi Municipal Corporation or the CDGK. But there has seldom been any real move or check leading to the safeguarding of the interests of hotel visitors, claimed another source.On the possibility of any coordination with the TDS in regard to quality certification of foods and drinks of hotels and restaurants and overall hygiene condition of the food-serving premises in the city, Health EDO Dr A.D. Santana said that his department could not go for the certification exercise in the given situation. He said it would be appropriate for the TDS to first ask its registered hotels and restaurants to acquire certificates from any public authority.

Speaking about his mandate and exercise under the pure food law, Dr Santana said that field officers inspect restaurants from time to time to check the hygiene of premises and kitchen activities involving food preparation. In case of deficiencies, the owners of the restaurants are issued notices for rectification of the shortcomings within a stipulated period. The EDO said his teams also collected food samples and sent them to laboratories. If the samples were not found as per standards given in the pure food rules, violators were prosecuted in the court of law.