Used to go to veg hotel run by Muslim in Kerala as he maintained standards: Judge SVN Bhatti
New Delhi (PTI): Batting for hygiene at eateries, Supreme Court judge SVN Bhatti said on Monday he used to frequent a vegetarian restaurant run by a Muslim while posted in Kerala as it maintained international standards.
Justice Bhatti shared his experience when he was with Justice Hrishikesh Roy on a bench that stayed the directives issued by BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra routes to display the names of their owners and staff but said they may be required to display information about the kind of food they are serving like they are vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
"I have my experience and knowledge when I was in Kerala. I may not state openly as I am a sitting judge of this court. Without disclosing the name of the city, there is a vegetarian hotel run by a Hindu. There is another vegetarian hotel run by a Muslim.
"As a judge of that state, I was going to the hotel run by a Muslim for vegetarian food. When it comes to food standard and safety, he was displaying everything. He had returned from Dubai. He was maintaining international standards with regard to safety, cleanliness and hygiene. So it was my choice to go to that hotel," Justice Bhatti said.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra, said," You chose by menu card and not name."
The bench issued notice to the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, where the Ujjain municipal body has issued a similar directive, on a host of petitions against the orders.
The top court was hearing a batch of pleas including those by Moitra, academician Apoorvanand Jha and columnist Aakar Patel, and NGO Association for Protection of Civil Rights challenging the directives.
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Private bus operators in Karnataka to hike fares by 20-30 pc after fuel price rise
Bengaluru (PTI): In the wake of the hike in fuel prices, private bus operators have decided to increase fares by 20-30 per cent, depending on the route, effective from Friday midnight.
They have also called for government subsidies, a reduction in cess, and lower road taxes to improve the situation.
"The situation for bus owners in the state is already distressing due to high road tax and the impact of the Shakti scheme (free bus travel for women in government buses). On top of this, fuel prices have increased," Karnataka State Bus Owners’ Association President S Nataraj Sharma said.
"This will impose a burden of Rs 15,000 per vehicle per month on bus owners. If an owner has three buses, the burden will be Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000 per month," he added.
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Speaking to reporters, he said the situation has made it inevitable for owners to increase fares by 20-30 per cent, depending on the route, under current conditions.
The increase may be roughly Rs 200 per seat, he added.
"For example, the current bus fare from Bengaluru to Belagavi is around Rs 1,000–Rs 1,200, which is likely to rise to Rs 1,350–Rs 1,400. Similarly, fares from Bengaluru to Mangaluru or Udupi currently range from Rs 900–Rs 1,000 and are expected to go up to Rs 1,100–Rs 1,200," he said.
Petrol and diesel prices were each hiked by Rs 3 per litre on Friday, the first rate increase in more than four years, amid mounting losses for fuel retailers due to surging global crude prices in the wake of the West Asia conflict.
The increase comes a couple of weeks after the Assembly elections concluded in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry.
