The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is considering joint inspections of rooftop restaurants and bars in the city with other government wings, like the fire and excise directorates, in the wake of the high court asking the civic body to give owners of such establishments the opportunity of a hearing.

A joint hearing might follow the inspection.

During Tuesday’s hearing at Calcutta High Court, the counsel for three rooftop establishments told the court that they had obtained the excise licence, trade licence, fire-safety licence, food licence and licence granted by police.

A senior KMC official said none of the other departments had informed them about any licence being revoked.

A fire licence is issued by the fire directorate after checking for fire safety measures. An excise licence is required to serve liquor.

“We have to plan whether we will conduct hearings on our own or if there should be joint hearings where officials from the excise and fire directorates are present. Some establishments might have some deficiencies that excise or the fire brigade can spot. A joint hearing could be an ideal platform to discuss them,” said a senior KMC official.

“A joint inspection should ideally precede the hearings because we should have full knowledge of the status of the establishments, what their deficiencies are and what needs to be done to address them.”

Justice Gaurang Kanth’s order on Tuesday said the court “deems it appropriate to remand the matter to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for reverification of the relevant documents, facts, and figures”.

It said: “Upon such reverification, KMC shall arrive at a fresh decision as to whether the invocation of Section 400(8) of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act is warranted.”

The section empowers the “mayor-in-council” of the KMC to demolish an unauthorised structure “forthwith”.

The KMC official said the civic body was also planning to send notices to more establishments, beyond the list of 83 prepared by the police, running from a terrace and blocking access to the roof.

Some restaurants mentioned on the police’s list are not on terraces.

Civic officials, however, said some of the restaurants and bars located on lower floors violated rules by encroaching on the fire refuge. They had extended their restaurants to the fire refuge of the floor.

The KMC officials have insisted over the past few days that neither a trade licence nor payment of property tax validated an illegal structure. They said only if the structure had a sanctioned building plan, it would be considered legal.

Till Tuesday evening, none of the rooftop restaurants, bars and cafes had approached the civic body with a sanctioned building plan.

“We have checked our records and did not find that any of these rooftop establishments were issued a sanctioned building plan. Neither has anyone approached us with a valid building plan. If they come to us with a sanctioned building plan, we will examine it,” said the official.

“The primary question in determining legality is whether the sanctioned building permit allowed construction on the roof,” a KMC official said.

“We issue certificates of enlistment to businesses under the ease of doing business scheme based on self-declaration, which is standard practice nationwide,” the official said.

“However, the certificate states that all other statutory requirements must be met.”

Property tax is collected because of civic services — like water and drainage infrastructure — used by the building.