The top court will today hear petitions challenging the move, calling it a grave restriction on the right of eatery owners to practice their trade and profession.

The directive to display names of persons selling food along the Kanwar Yatra route is to ensure transparency and provide an informed choice to pilgrims to ensure their religious sentiments are not hurt, the Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court ahead of a hearing on Friday.

Supreme Court of India. (PTI File Photo)

The top court will today hear petitions challenging the move, calling it a grave restriction on the right of eatery owners to practice their trade and profession.

The state’s affidavit has come in response to a notice issued by the top court on Monday on a set of petitions challenging the July 17 order passed by the Uttar Pradesh police department. As the petitions claimed that such a directive was discriminatory against the minority community, the top court, as an interim measure, stayed the order.

Defending its order of July 17, the UP government said, “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.”

It further said the idea behind the directives is transparency and informed choice of the Kanwaria regarding the food they eat during the period of the yatra, keeping in mind their religious sentiments so that they don’t, even accidently, fall foul of their beliefs.

The petitions, filed by Association for Protection of Civil Rights and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, also challenged similar directives issued by the police in Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.

The two-week yatra is preceded by weeks and months of tight regimen, as Kanwariyas follow a strict vegetarian, satvik diet, eschewing even onion and garlic from their food.

“A mishap in the form of taking a meal unwittingly of a place that would have otherwise not been of their choice, could, for the Kanwariya, vitiate the entire yatra, peace and tranquility in the area, the maintenance of which, is the bounden duty of the state,” the state said.

In the past week, the UP administration received complaints of flareups and altercations on the Kanwar Yatra route regarding onions and garlic being served at eateries, the affidavit filed through advocate Ruchira Goel stated.

The state further clarified that by issuing the directive, “the state 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 Kanwariya,” it added.

Claiming that the directive has been issued going by complaints received from the Kanwariyas regarding confusion caused by the names of the shops and eateries, the state denied any discrimination as the directive is operational only for a limited period of two weeks, restricted to a particular geographical space, and is applicable uniformly to all eatery owners, regardless of their religious or community affiliations.

“The directives are also aimed at ensuring public safety and order during the Kanwar Yatra. Given the large number of about 4 crore participants and the potential for communal tensions, it is imperative to take preventive measures that ensure a peaceful and harmonious pilgrimage,” the state said.

It said that prominent disclosures of the names of the operators of the eateries and the type of food they serve is certainly not discriminatory or restrictive at all as it has been approved by the top court in a 2008 decision in ‘Hinsa Virodhak Sangh vs Mirzapur Moti Kuresh Jamat’, where a complete closure of slaughter houses in Gujarat was approved during a 9-day period coinciding with the Jain festival.

“The temporary nature of the directives ensures that they do not inflict any permanent discrimination or hardship on the food sellers, simultaneously also ensuring maintaining the sentiments of Kanwariyas and their religious beliefs and practices. Moreover, the said guidelines have only been issued for a limited geographical extent,” the affidavit said.

On Monday, the SC bench, while putting the directives by states on hold, said, “Until the returnable date (July 26), we deem it appropriate to pass an interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the above directives. In other words, food sellers, including dhaba owners, hawkers etc. may be required to display the kind of food they are serving, but they don’t need to display the names of owners, staff and other details.”