The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Saturday began sending notices to rooftop restaurants across the city, directing them to pull down illegally built portions or face legal action.

A team from the fire services department and the KMC visited What’s Up! Cafe, a popular rooftop bar on Southern Avenue, in the evening. The team came accompanied by police armed with batons and shields, and left after an hour.

Anirban Sengupta, partner of What’s Up! Cafe, said the civic body’s action was tantamount to harassment. “The team had men armed with hammers and crowbars. But we were not served any prior notice. How can they come for demolition without serving a notice?” Sengupta asked.

He said the place had all the necessary permits.

Police and KMC officials said the demolition of LMNOQ Skybar, a rooftop lounge in Celica Park on Park Street, which began on Friday, continued on Saturday.

Mayor Firhad Hakim had on Friday announced that all rooftop restaurants, bars, cafés and lounges in the city would be shut down.

“We have started sending notices to rooftop restaurants asking them to pull down portions that have been illegally constructed or added to the existing structure,” a senior KMC official told The Telegraph on Saturday.

“The notice says the owner will face legal action unless the unauthorised portion is pulled down,” he said.

Civic officials said the notice quoted Rule 117(4) of the KMC Building Rules 2009 that mandates clear access to the terrace and prohibits subdivision of the terrace space.

The owners of at least two rooftop hangouts acknowledged receiving the notice. They denied any wrongdoing.

Following the mayor’s announcement on Friday, city police have drawn up a preliminary list of rooftop restaurants located in areas under their jurisdiction.

More than 80 such places, with their addresses an the phone numbers of contact persons, feature on the list. Sources said it was not exhaustive.

Police officers have been instructed to gather information on rooftop restaurants such as the period of validity of the trade licence and fire licence and a tentative count of the footfall on weekends and other days, a senior officer at Lalbazar said.

The mayor’s announcement and the actions that followed have caused widespread panic among restaurateurs. Many of the establishments remained shut on Saturday.

The owner of a rooftop hangout said they were seeking legal recourse.

“We have formed an association of the owners of the affected rooftop restaurants. We are planning to approach the courts,” said Jyoti Agarwal, co-owner of Roots in Chowringhee, a popular party spot known for its stunning views of the Calcutta skyline.

“Sixty per cent of our place is open area. We have three staircases. We have all thenecessary permits.”

On Saturday, teams from the civic body’s building department visited some of the rooftop restaurants and handed notices to those responsible for running the units in the absence of the chief executive officer or the owner.

Scrapyard in South City Mall was one of them.

Ankit Madhukoria, the owner of Scrapyard, said: “A notice was served on us on Saturday evening. We have taken the place on rent from the mall. We have all the papers in place. A representative will meet a KMC official on Monday.”

A KMC official said: “At some places, no one was around to receive the notices from the visiting teams. We have decided to send them by post to those whose name features as the ‘owner of the premises’ in our record books. Notices will also be pasted on the walls of those premises.”

Saturday’s notices were sent to some of the rooftop restaurants found to have deviated from sanctioned plans, senior officials said.

“We have completed a preliminary survey of some rooftop restaurants where our engineers spotted deviations from the sanctioned plans. The first round of notices was sent to them,” the officials said. “We wanted to be precise with our findings on the deviations, which may be major or minor.”

Capella, on the 20th floor of AltAir in Salt Lake, had not received a notice till Saturday afternoon. It is under the jurisdiction of the Bidhannagar Commissionerate.

“We are technically not a rooftop joint. We are on the 20th floor. The hotel has 21 floors and the roof is vacant. But there is very little clarity right now. We are waiting for a formal communication from the government,” a spokesperson said.

Sagar Daryani, president and national head of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), said the organisation supported action against those flouting norms, but a blanket closure of all rooftop restaurants because of the fault of some was “uncalled for”.

“This puts businesses and large-scale employment at risk. This is absolutely uncalled for and the matter needs to be dealt with with a lot of sensitivity,” Daryani said.

“While the safety of our patrons is our utmost priority, across the country and globally, many restaurants do operate with proper compliances and infrastructure in place, and those following the same in the city should not be stopped from operations.”

NRAI sources said the association was likely to move court in the coming week.

Mayor Hakim hadsaid on Friday that a building’s terrace would be considered a common area and no encroachments would be allowed.

“Rooftop restaurants will be shut, and the structures will have to be removed,” he had said.

“If there’s a fire in a building’s lower part, everyone would have access to the terrace. Similarly, if there is a fire at the building’s top, residents can come down and converge at the common area on the ground.”

Hakim had added: “A terrace means a common area. No one can sell it. Just like one can’t sell stairs or a common space of a building, a terrace can’t be sold, either. It will be considered a common area in the building plan, and no encroachments will be allowed.”