Lucknow Press
The Supreme Court has stayed the Yogi government’s decision to install name plates outside food shops on the Kanwar Yatra route in Uttar Pradesh. While issuing the order, the Supreme Court said- ‘Food vendors should not be forced to write the names of owners and employees’.
The court has also issued notices to UP, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand regarding this matter. That is, shopkeepers will not be forced to install name plates right now. In this way, not only the Yogi Adityanath government of UP but also the Mohan Yadav government of MP and the Pushkar Singh Dhami government of Uttarakhand have got a setback from the Supreme Court.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra had approached the SC against the order of the UP and Uttarakhand governments. In which it is said that the eateries located on the Kanwar Yatra route will have to display the names of their owners. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Mahua, told the bench of Justices Rishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti that ‘indirect’ orders have been passed to display the names of the eatery owners. After this, the bench asked Singhvi whether Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand has given any formal order regarding displaying the names of the eatery owners?
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The directive issued by SSP Muzaffarnagar Police on July 17 was challenged in the court. During the hearing, Singhvi said- ‘Kanvar Yatra has been going on for a long time. People of all religions help the Kanwariyas. Now this kind of division is happening. The order of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand regarding displaying the names of the owners of restaurants is ‘exclusion on the basis of identity’ and it is also against the Constitution.’
During the hearing, it was also said that shopkeepers will also have to tell what kind of food they are serving. In her petition, Moitra had urged to stop the orders issued by both the state governments and said that such instructions increase disputes between communities. In the same petition, it has been alleged that the relevant order has been issued with the intention of economic boycott of Muslim shop owners and artisans and harming their livelihood.
Opposition welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court
Now reactions are coming from all opposition parties including Congress. Congress, Samajwadi Party, TMC and AIMIM had protested against this. NDA allies RLD and LJP (Rambilas) also called the decision wrong. Owaisi compared this government order to South Africa’s apartheid. TMC MP Mahua Moitra called that order of the UP government anti-constitutional. At the same time, Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Pramod Tiwari, Congress MP from Barabanki Tanuj Punia have welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision. JDU leader KC Tyagi has also called the Supreme Court’s decision correct. KC Tyagi said, alcohol should also be banned on the Kanwar Yatra route.
How did the matter reach the Supreme Court?
The issue of name plate controversy was also raised in the all-party meeting on July 21 before the budget session. Leaders of almost every opposition party, including Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, AIMIM leader Owaisi and AAP leader Sanjay Singh, had expressed concern over the Yogi government’s decision to install ‘name plates’ during the Kanwar Yatra. Let us tell you that an NGO named Association for Protection of Civil Rights had filed a petition to challenge the UP government’s order in the Supreme Court.
