Kanwar Yatra: SC Orders Eateries to Display Licenses, Declines Further Intervention

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to stay directives issued in Uttar Pradesh requiring eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners. However, the court made it clear that food establishments must comply with existing statutory obligations to display their license and registration certificates.

A bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh, while disposing of the plea, refrained from commenting on the larger constitutional questions raised in the petition but orally observed that there should be a way for customers to know if an eatery temporarily shifts from serving non-vegetarian to vegetarian food during the yatra.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Delhi University professor Apoorvanand, human rights activist Aakar Patel, and others challenging recent orders, including those issued by the Uttar Pradesh government. The petitioners argued that such directives—requiring eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display either the owner's name or QR codes containing the owner's identity—were in violation of the Supreme Court’s interim stay granted during last year’s pilgrimage, which had restrained authorities from enforcing similar mandates.

The bench, however, limited its ruling to statutory compliance, saying:

“We are informed that today is the last day of the yatra or that it is coming to a close soon. Therefore, at this stage, we direct that all hotel and eatery owners comply with the statutory requirement of displaying their license and registration certificate.”

The court emphasized that it was not delving into the other issues raised and noted that the interim application stands closed.

The petitioners had earlier highlighted that in July 2023, the top court had put an interim stay on similar directives, ruling that food establishments cannot be compelled to disclose the names or identities of their owners or employees. They argued that the latest set of directives goes against that order and is, in effect, a form of compelled disclosure that could endanger individuals, especially in a polarized climate.

Displaying an owner's name publicly, they contended, is fundamentally different from displaying official licenses within the premises. The petition alleged that such orders amount to “an unlawful attempt to reveal religious identity,” potentially inviting threats or violence—whether by fringe vigilante elements or even local authorities.

Though the court stopped short of intervening on that front, it did remark on the issue of dietary information during the yatra. It said that if an eatery that typically serves non-vegetarian food switches to vegetarian fare solely during the pilgrimage, customers should be made aware of the change.

“If a hotel is vegetarian by default, there's no issue. But if a non-vegetarian establishment temporarily turns vegetarian only during the yatra, customers should be informed. After all, the consumer is king,” Justice Sundresh said, as reported by Bar and Bench.

The Kanwar Yatra, undertaken annually in July by Hindu devotees, involves thousands of pilgrims walking to Uttarakhand to collect holy water from the Ganga River, which they later offer at Shiva temples.

In the backdrop of last year’s similar orders in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the petitioners had expressed concern over the communal undertone of such directives. They argued that these regulations emerged in an atmosphere where people were being encouraged to avoid purchasing food from Muslim-owned establishments and to participate in targeted economic boycotts.

While the court has closed the present application, the petitioners' concerns around religious profiling, freedom of trade, and safety of business owners remain live issues in the broader legal and social discourse.

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