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Informist, Monday, Jul 22, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court today stayed orders in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other states asking eateries and stalls on the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners. The top court said eateries and stalls have to display the type of food being served by them.

 

Further, the apex court issued a notice to the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. "Until the returnable date…we deem it appropriate to pass interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the above directives. In other words, the food sellers, hawkers etc may be required to display the kind of food they are serving to Kanwariyas, but they must not be forced to disclose the names...," a Bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice S.V.N. Bhatti said. 

 

On Friday, the Uttar Pradesh government mandated food and beverage shops along the routes of the ongoing Kanwar Yatra to display the name and identity of the owner or operators of their establishments. This was also followed up by the government of Uttarakhand.  

 

The top court was hearing petitions by a non-government organisation named Association for Protection of Civil Rights, political commentator Apoorvanand, Aakar Patel and Trinamool Congress' Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra. The petitioners Apoorvanand and Aakar Patel had sought the top court's intervention to ask the states to withdraw the orders.

 

Meanwhile, petitioner Moitra had accused the Uttar Pradesh government of targeting Muslim-owned businesses. The petitioners said the directive by the state governments encouraged discrimination on grounds of caste and religion and cannot be seen to serve any legitimate purpose. They also said the directions promote untouchability and compromise the privacy of the shop owners and their employees, exposing them to the danger of being targeted.

 

Moitra accused the Uttar Pradesh government of creating "conditions for economic boycott of Muslims". The Uttar Pradesh government through acts of commission and omission, created conditions for the complete economic boycott of Muslim minorities on the pretext of their impure dietary choices, Moitra said.

 

The petitioners said the directions by the state impose unreasonable restrictions on business activities of eatery owners and food-sellers, infringing upon their freedom to carry on any occupation, trade or business under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

 

The Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage undertaken by Shiva devotees during which they travel to key Hindu pilgrimage sites to fetch holy water from the river Ganga.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Vidhi Verma

 

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