Plea in SC against UP, Uttarakhand orders to display eatery owners’ names during Kanwar Yatra
New Delhi: Delhi University professor Apoorvanand and human rights activist Aakar Patel have approached the Supreme Court seeking an immediate stay on recent directives by the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand that mandate eatery owners to publicly display their names along Kanwar Yatra routes.
According to the petition, the orders, directing restaurants and dhabas to put up boards with owner names and QR codes disclosing identity details, amount to “discriminatory profiling” and violate fundamental rights to privacy and dignity. The directives, the petition contends, resurrect a practice the apex court had previously stayed on July 22, 2024, ruling that the public display of personal identity was not backed by law nor justified under the stated goals of maintaining public order or ensuring food safety.
The matter is likely to be heard by a bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and N.K. Singh on July 15, according to reports by The Tribune and Bar & Bench.
Apoorvanand and Patel, along with Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, were also among the original petitioners in the 2024 case. Their fresh petition reiterates that any state action infringing on personal privacy must pass the four-fold constitutional test of legitimate aim, suitability, necessity, and proportionality, a threshold the current directives allegedly fail to meet.
The petition describes the new requirements as “discriminatory and stigmatising,” pointing out that standard licensing procedures already require internal display of owner details and that this information need not be prominently exposed to the public. The move, it argues, goes beyond legal norms and amounts to identity-based targeting, particularly given the communal sensitivities around the Kanwar Yatra.
“The requisite license is a self-contained certificate which, although it reveals the name of the owner, is displayed inside the premises. Equating this with the directive to display the owner’s name, manager’s name, and employee names on billboards outside or to avoid eatery names that obscure religious identity is entirely outside the scope of existing licensing laws,” the petition states.
The plea seeks an urgent interim stay on the implementation of these orders, warning that they could lead to communal profiling and compromise both the safety and dignity of business owners along the pilgrimage route.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
