Kanwar Yatra row: Supreme Court extends stay on UP diktat to eatery owners
Satya Prakash
New Delhi, July 26
The Supreme Court on Friday extended its ex parte interim stay on the Uttar Pradesh Government’s directive to eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners and employees even as it clarified that there was no bar on voluntary display of names of eateries’ owners/employees.
With the governments of Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh seeking more time to file their responses, a Bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice SVN Bhatt extended the stay order till August 5 — the next date of hearing.
The Bench, however, clarified that there was no bar under its July 22 order on eateries voluntarily displaying names of owners or employees. “We have said what needed to be said in our July 22 order. Can’t force anyone to disclose names,” it said.
On behalf of the UP Government, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi defended its directive requiring eateries to display the names of their owners, saying the idea was to bring in transparency, avoid “potential confusion” and ensure a peaceful yatra. Rohatgi urged the Bench to take up the matter on next Monday or Tuesday, saying “I (UP Government) am suffering an ex-parte order” and the issue would become infructuous, if delayed.
He sought to emphasise that the state government was simply enforcing a law enacted by Parliament that required shop owners to display their names and that the petitioners didn’t inform the court about the existence of such a law.
“Then let it be enforced all over… not only in certain states. File a counter (affidavit) showing it has been enforced all over,” the Bench said.
It asked the Ujjain Municipal Corporation, which had reportedly issued a similar directive to the shop owners, to spell out its stand.
The top court also refused to entertain intervention applications filed on behalf of the devotees/pilgrims who wanted it to ensure that they get only ‘satvik’ food during the yatra.
The Bench posted the matter for hearing on August 5 to enable the governments of Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh to file their replies.
