Petition in Supreme Court Against Order to Display Eatery Owners' Names During Kanwar Yatra
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: Delhi University professor Apoorvanand and rights defender Aakar Patel have filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the directives issued by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand state governments asking restaurant and dhaba owners to display their names at prominent places if their shops were on routes to be taken by kanwariyas on their annual yatra.
The state governments have also asked to display QR codes which would reveal the names of the owners of the restaurants. This would lead to ‘discriminatory profiling that was previously stayed by the Supreme Court', the petition contended.
According to The Tribune the matter is likely to be heard on July 15. Bar and Bench reports that it is likely to be heard by a bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and N.K. Singh this week.
Apoorvanand's petition says that the orders of the two state governments were violative of several constitutional provisions as well as an earlier order of the Supreme Court had passed on July 22, 2024. The court had granted interim stay on the enforcement of such directives, observing that "the display of personal identity was neither backed by law nor necessary for the stated purpose of public order or food safety compliance."
Apoorvanand and Patel, along with Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, had been petitioners of the 2024 case as well.
The petition stated that in an earlier order the apex court had stated that state actions impacting privacy and dignity must satisfy the test of legitimate aim, suitability, necessity, and proportionality. The petitioner contended that the directives of both the governments fail all these principles. Nor do they fall under any statue, and they will be discriminatory and stigmatising
The petitioner said such a directive was a breach of privacy rights.
“The requisite license is a self-contained certificate, which although reveals the name of the owner, is displayed inside the premises at a place where it may be accessed. Equating this requirement to display a normal-sized license with the directive to display name of owner, manager and other employees on billboards outside, or to not give eateries names which do not reflect the religious identity of the owner are de hors [outside the context of ] the license requirements,” the petition says.
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