Supreme Court (SC) stays governments’ directive asking eateries on Kanwariya Yatra route to put owners’ names and issues notices to Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh governments challenging their directive asking eateries on Kanwariya Yatra route to put owners’ names.
‘Eatery owners are only obligated to inform customers about the type of food they serve’, said the apex court. The court saught responses from the states and posted the matter for hearing on July 26. Supreme Court says food sellers must not be forced to serve names of owners, staff employed.
The order was issued as the bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti considered a plea filed by an NGO, the Association of Protection of Civil Rights, challenging the Uttar Pradesh government’s directive.
In its plea, the NGO told the apex court that the UP government order hawkers and shopkeepers along the Kanwar Yatra route to display their names constitutes exclusion by identity. Advocate CU Singh, representing the NGO, argued that the order was camouflaged and amounted to the economic death of small-scale shopkeepers. He submitted to the court that the UP government order has no statutory backing and that such a directive serves no purpose.
Similarly, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the order was issued without any legal authority and described it as a camouflage.
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