India: Supreme Court halts orders requiring eateries to display owner names along Kanwar Yatra route

The Supreme Court of India on Monday (Jul22) imposed an interim stay order on the directives by multiple state governments ordering eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of the shop owners.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti issued notices to the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh seeking their replies to plea challenging the directive.

The bench said that while food sellers may be required to display information on the kind of food they serve, they cannot be forced to display the names of the owners.

"We deem it appropriate to pass an interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the above directives. In other words, food sellers may be required to display kind of food, but must not be forced to display names of owners, staff employed," said the justices. The matter has been posted for further hearing on Friday (Jul26).

The order

Last week, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered eateries across the Kanwar Yatra route to display outside the establishment the names of the owners.

Yogi Adityanath issued this order a similar instruction by police for eateries in Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur and Shamli. He said that the order must be sternly followed to avoid confusion among pilgrims undertaking the pilgrimage.The Uttarakhand government passed a similar order.

In Madhya Pradesh, BJP-ruled Ujjain Municipal Corporation also issued a directive asking shop owners to display their names and mobile numbers outside their establishments.

On Saturday (Jul20), Ujjain Mayor Mukesh Tatwal said that violators would have to pay a Rs 2,000 (around $24) fine for the Rs 5,000(around $60) if they defy this order for the second time. He also said that the order was only aimed at ensuring safety and transparency and clarified that it was not intended to target Muslim shopkeepers.

Critics of the order

The plea, as per PTI news agency, was filed by multiple stakeholders, including the NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights, TMC MP Mahua Moitra and others.

MP Moitra, in her plea, contented that the order could aggravate discord between communities.

(With inputs from agencies)