The Supreme Court issued an interim order putting a hold on the guidelines asking Uttar Pradesh shopkeepers along Kanwar Yatra routes to display names. The owners would only display the kind of food served in their eateries, the court said.
A Jusice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice SVN Bhatti bench issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh state governments that brought the order on 'nameplates', hearing a plea by an NGO, the Association of Protection of Civil Rights, challenging the Uttar Pradesh government's order.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said during the hearing that the order was issued without any authority of law calling it "camouflage".
He said, "It is a camouflaged order for Kanwar Yatra. Violators will be fined if they do not show their names. We are talking about thousands of kilometres. The bulk of these shops are tea stalls and some belong to fruit shop owners. This is economic death."
"The larger issue is much more important. You go to a restaurant depending on the menu, not who is serving. The idea of this directive is exclusion by identity. This is not the republic we envisaged in the Constitution," added Singhvi.
The advocate said that people of all religions helped Kanwariyas during their yatra which has been happening for decades.
"It's about identity inclusion. The order was issued without any authority of law. What can be the rationale behind this nexus between aims and objects of giving a name and eating at restaurants?" he said.
Appearing for the NGO, advocate CU Singh said that the order had no statutory backing and it did not serve any purpose. "It has never been done before. It has no statutory backing. No law gives the Police Commissioner the power to do it. The directive on every tea stalls and other roadside shops giving names of employees and owners does not serve any purpose," he said.
The Muzaffarnagar Police last week directed all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display their owners' names. The Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh later extended the order statewide. This was followed by the Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh governments which introduced similar directives.
The move received a lot of backlash with some NDA allies including JD(U) and RLD questioning it.
According to the Opposition, the order on eateries is "communal and divisive" targeting Muslims and Scheduled Castes (SCs) by forcing them to reveal their identity.
The ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand, and Madhya Pradesh have countered it stating that the measures were introduced with law and order issues and the religious sentiments of pilgrims in mind.
