SC Pauses Kanwar Yatra Order, Says Displaying Identity At Eateries Not Required

The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily halted a directive requiring shopkeepers along the Kanwar Yatra route in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh to display their names.

Instead, the apex court ruled that only the type of food served needs to be displayed. This decision came after a plea by the NGO, Association of Protection of Civil Rights.

The court referred to the "... implication of (the) directive is spread across multiple states... let notice in these petitions (to UP, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh) be issued. Returnable on Friday."

"...until returnable date we deem it appropriate to pass interim order prohibiting enforcement of above directives. In other words, food sellers must not be forced to display names of owners, staff..."

During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi slammed the directive, describing it as "camouflage" and issued without legal authority.

He argued, "It is a camouflaged order for Kanwar Yatra. Violators will be fined if they do not show their names. We are talking about thousands of kilometres. The bulk of these shops are tea stalls and some belong to fruit shop owners. This is economic death."

Singhvi highlighted the broader issue: "The larger issue is much more important. You go to a restaurant depending on the menu, not who is serving. The idea of this directive is exclusion by identity. This is not the republic we envisaged in the Constitution."

CU Singh, another advocate for the NGO, added that the order lacked statutory backing and served no real purpose: "It has never been done before. It has no statutory backing. No law gives Police Commissioner the power to do it. The directive on every tea stall and other roadside shops giving names of employees and owners does not serve any purpose."

The Muzaffarnagar Police initially issued the order, which was later adopted statewide by the UP government and echoed by Uttarakhand.

The directive faced backlash from opposition parties and some NDA allies, who criticised it as "communal and divisive."

BJP, however, defended the move as a measure for law and order and respecting religious sentiments of pilgrims.