The Supreme Court of India on Friday stayed Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government’s diktat making display of owners’ name on eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route mandatory.

The directive, stayed till Friday, ordering eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display names of owners and employees was aimed at “ensuring no confusion among kanwariyas”.

The bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti passed the interim order while issuing notice on a batch of petitions challenging the Government directives, Live Law reported.

The court referred to the “… implication of (the) directive is spread across multiple states… let notice in these petitions (to UP, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh) be issued. Returnable on Friday.”

Also Read: Kanwar Yatra 2024: Row over UP’s diktat to eateries along route in Muzaffarnagar, Owaisi draws Hitler parallel

The SC bench, however, clarified that the eateries should display the type of food being served.

The petitioners had challenged the directions as causing religious discrimination and questioned the source of power of the authorities to issue such directions.

“You go to a restaurant depending on the menu, not who is serving. The idea of directive is exclusion by identity. This is not the republic we envisaged in Constitution…” senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, said.

“There are a lot of ‘pure vegetarian’ restaurants run by Hindus… but they may have Muslim employees. Can I say I won’t eat there? Because food is somehow ‘touched’ by them?” Singhvi asked.

Last week, police in UP’s Muzaffarnagar asked all food joints along the route to prominently display names of owners. “This is being done to ensure there is no confusion among kanwariyas, and no allegations are raised in the future, leading to a law and order situation,” the cops said.

Also Read: Yogi Adityanath’s diktat for eateries on Kanwar routes across UP to display owners’ names

Later, the directive was issued for the entire state.

The opposition slammed the directive along with at least three allies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose support at the centre is crucial to the BJP, and union ministers Jayant Chaudhary (Rashtriya Lok Dal) and Chirag Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party).

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi claimed that this move was to ensure no ‘Kanwariya’ buys anything from a Muslim owner’s shop.