NEW DELHI: The Uttar Pradesh government, in its reply filed before the Supreme Court on Thursday, said that the directives issued by it to display shop names, numbers, and their employees' names were aimed at ensuring public safety, order, larger transparency, informed choice of food of Kanwarias they eat during the Yatra, keeping in mind their religious sentiments.
"These directives aimed at ensuring public safety and order during the Yatra given the large number of participants and potential for communal tensions," the UP government told the apex court, in its reply copy, accessed by this newspaper.
The top court on July 22, while passing the interim order staying the UP, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh government's orders directive asking eateries on the Kanwariya Yatra route to put the names, addresses and mobile numbers of their owners and staff, had asked them to file their replies in the case.
The court's two-judge bench, led by Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice S V N Bhatti, passed the order after hearing the pleas filed by an NGO, Association For Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), All India Trinamool Congress leader, Mahua Moitra and Prof. Apoorvanand. They had moved the Supreme Court challenging these state governments’s order.
The apex court is scheduled to hear the matter on Friday.
Filing the reply in the top court, the UP government opposed the petitions challenging it's diktat regarding display of name of shop owners on Kanwar route and had urged it to reject the same
"These directives were brought in only after there were complaints from Kanwariyas," UP government said, adding that these directives were to ensure a peaceful Kanwar Yatra 2024. The apex court, however, stayed the order and granted relief to the petitioners.
"We deem it appropriate to pass interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the directives. In other words, the food sellers (including dhaba owners, restaurants, foods and vegetable sellers, and hawkers) may be required to display the kind of food that they are serving to the Kanwariyas. But they must not be forced to display the name or identity of the owners and also the employees, deployed in their respective establishments," the bench had said in its order on July 22.
The UP government issued directives recently, making it mandatory for shopkeepers and eatery owners to display their names along with other details on their establishments across all pockets in the state where the Kanwar Yatra is organised. The UP government did so, to maintain the sanctity of the pilgrims' faith. The authorities also made it clear that action would be taken against those selling 'halal-certified' products.
However, after a strong reaction from various quarters, the order was reviewed on Thursday and it was left to the 'free will' of the eateries owners to display their names.
The Kanwar Yatra will commence on July 22 with the starting of the Hindu month of Shravan and conclude on August 2.
The petitioners argued that just on the eve of Kanwariya Yatras for the year 2024, the directives have been issued and there is no instance of any similar directives in the past years.
