NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India has issued an interim stay on directives from the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments, which required eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners. This decision came in response to multiple petitions challenging the orders, including one from Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, academician Apoorvanand Jha, columnist Aakar Patel, and NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights contesting the directives.

The Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage where devotees of Lord Shiva, known as Kanwariyas, carry holy water from the Ganges River to their local Shiva temples. The pilgrimage sees millions of participants, leading to significant logistical and security challenges for the states involved.

The directives from the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments mandated that eateries along the pilgrimage route display the names of their owners, ostensibly for security and transparency reasons. However, this move was met with backlash, with critics arguing that it could exacerbate communal tensions and target specific communities.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court emphasized that while it is reasonable to require eateries to display the type of food being served, mandating the display of owners' names was unnecessary and could lead to unintended consequences. 

The court's bench, comprising Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S.V.N. Bhatti, stated that the directive could aggravate discord between communities and was not in the public interest. While issuing the stay the bench noted, "We deem it appropriate to pass an interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the above directives. In other words, food sellers may be required to display kind of food, but must not be forced to display names of owners, staff employed," as it posted the matter for further hearing on Friday.

The court has issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh governments, where the Ujjain municipal body has issued a similar directive seeking their responses to the petitions. The matter has been posted for further hearing on July 26, 2024.

The Congress party welcomed the stay with its media and publicity department head Pawan Khera commenting that the directive by the BJP-ruled states was unconstitutional. He said, "We are very happy that the Supreme Court has given such a strong order and we hope that the prime minister makes his chief ministers aware of their 'raj dharma (solemn duty)'. Unfortunately, he is the same PM, who when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked him to follow 'raj dharma' but he defied Atal ji," 

In a video statement Khera also said that although the prime minister's position in his party is considerably weakened, we hope he retrieves that position and asserts himself and stops his chief ministers from indulging in such unconstitutional measures.