LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) – The Lahore High Court (LHC) has declared the business of running a snooker club as lawful and legitimate, ruling that operating a snooker club is a legal recreational activity and that no law prohibits it. The court set aside the trial court’s decision ordering the closure of a citizen’s snooker club.
Justice Jawad Zafar of the LHC issued a five-page written verdict on the appeal filed by citizen Muhammad Rashid.
In the written decision, the court stated that under the Constitution, every citizen has the right to conduct a lawful business. It held that billiards and snooker are neither immoral nor prohibited under the law. Businesses operating within the legal framework cannot be shut down indefinitely on the basis of vague complaints.
The verdict noted that, according to the petitioner, he was running a snooker club in Sargodha that provided recreational billiards games to the public. However, an opposing party approached the area magistrate seeking the closure of the club, alleging that it remained open late at night and caused noise.
The court observed that the magistrate ordered the closure of the snooker club under Section 133 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), but ruled that a snooker club does not fall within the scope of Section 133. The powers under this section are meant to be used only in cases of emergency and temporary public nuisance.
Any order under Section 133 must be limited and specific so that a person’s economic rights are not affected.
The judgment further stated that imposing a complete ban on a business amounts to misuse of judicial authority. Issues such as noise or operating hours could have been regulated, and a total shutdown was unnecessary. The trial court failed to correctly interpret the law.
The LHC therefore annulled the trial court’s decision to close the snooker club and ruled that the petitioner may reopen and operate the club, provided all legal requirements are duly observed.