The Uttar Pradesh government has defended its order urging eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route to display their owners' names in the Supreme Court, stating the directive was issued to ensure a peaceful completion of the Kanwar Yatra.
The affidavit was filed by the government in SC after the bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti issued an interim stay on the directive while considering petitions filed by MC MP Mahua Moitra, academician Apoorvanand Jha, columnist Aakar Patel, and NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights.
The Uttar Pradesh government, challenging the SC order, said the directive was issued to ensure a larger transparency. "The idea behind the directive is transparency and informed choice of the consumer/Kanwaria regarding the food they eat during the period of the Yatra, keeping in mind their religious sentiments so that they don’t, even accidentally, fall foul of their beliefs," the UP government said.
The state said in the affidavit that it has imposed no ban or prohibition on the trade or business of the food sellers - except the restriction on selling non-veg food - and they are free to conduct their business as usual. "The requirement to display the names and identities of the owners is merely an additional measure to ensure transparency and avoid any potential confusion among the Kanwariyas," the affidavit added.
Imposing an interim stay on the controversial order on Monday, the Supreme Court also sent notices to the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, where the Ujjain municipal body has issued a similar directive. The apex court said the eateries may be required to display the kind of food they are serving like they are vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
"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," the bench said and posted the matter for further hearing on Friday.
The court also asked senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Moitra, if any formal order has been passed in the matter in Uttar Pradesh. Singhvi said a "camouflaged" order has been passed to display the names of owners of eateries. He asserted the order passed by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments was "exclusion by identity" and against the Constitution.
No one appeared for the state governments in the apex court on Monday.
