The lawyers’ canteen at the Delhi High Court has reportedly dropped main course items from its menu citing “unavailability” of LPG cylinders, adding that they weren’t aware when the gas supply would be restored.
“This is to respectfully inform you that due to the unavailability of the LPG gas cylinder at present, we regret that we are unable to prepare and serve the main course items in the Lawyers Canteen,” the canteen said in a notice dated March 11, 2026,
The development comes amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia that has hit energy supplies across the world, and follows hotel associations in cities like Bengaluru and Chennai reporting shortage of commercial LPG.
The canteen said the services will be restored as soon as the gas supply becomes available, adding that they don’t know when that would be. “At the moment, we do not have any information regarding when the LPG supply will be restored. We will resume the preparation of the main course as soon as the gas supply becomes available,” the notice reportedly said.
As the conflict in West Asia has caused uncertainty, the Centre on Tuesday moved to ration natural gas supplies, prioritising households receiving piped gas, vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG), and units producing cooking gas (LPG).
“The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has resulted in the disruption of liquefied natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz,” the ministry of petroleum and natural gas said in an order, adding that the new rules would “ensure equitable distribution and continued availability for priority sectors”.
The ministry on Monday night notified the Natural Gas (Supply Regulation) Order, 2026, invoking the Essential Commodities Act of 1955 — giving the directive overriding authority over all existing gas sale agreements and commercial arrangements.
Meanwhile, restaurants as well as hotel owners across the country have been severely hit by the shortage of commercial cylinders due to authorities giving priority to domestic gas supply. The Centre and oil companies said the gas stock was sufficient and there was no cause for panic. The government has also issued direction to increase LPG production by 10 per cent.
Eateries in Maharashtra’s Mumbai, Karnataka’s Bengaluru, NCR’s Gurugram etc. have started taking measures to limit LPG usage, such as switching to crisis menus featuring faster-cooking items and coal-based tandoor food to avoid looming shutdown.
