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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Nothing wrong if Kharge wants to come back to Karnataka politics: G Parameshwara
Bengaluru(PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said there is nothing wrong if party national President Mallikarjun Kharge wants to return to state politics.
He was responding to a question from reporters on Kharge's remarks, recalling how he lost the Chief Minister's post to S M Krishna after the 1999 Karnataka Assembly polls. Kharge's remarks added to the speculations of leadership change in Congress and about his return to state politics.
Senior Congress leader Parameshwara also said that wrongly interpreting Kharge is also not correct.
Kharge's statement seems to have rekindled the debate on 'Dalit CM' within the party. The AICC President, who hails from Karnataka, belongs to a Scheduled Caste.
Making a Dalit the CM is a hotly debated matter within the Congress party, the issue on which senior leaders and Ministers Parameshwara and H C Mahadevappa have openly spoken in the past. Both belong to Scheduled Castes.
These comments have come amid speculations within the state's political circles, especially within the ruling Congress, for some time now about the Chief Minister change later this year, citing a rumoured power-sharing agreement involving incumbent Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar.
"Kharge is a senior leader not only in our party, but in national politics, making comments on him is not right. Kharge is competent to hold all kinds of positions; he has experience, and he has been in politics for about 50 years. If he says something, interpreting it wrongly is not correct," Parameshwara told reporters in response to a question.
Asked about some speaking about his return to state politics, he said, "There is nothing wrong in it. He is holding the decisive position in our party. He is the one who decides as to who should be the Chief Minister, being the AICC President. So, in case he wants to come back to state politics, no one should interpret it wrong."
Speaking at an event in Vijayapura on Sunday, Kharge had recalled about him missing the Chief Ministerial post, when Congress came to power in 1999.
"As CLP (Congress Legislature Party) leader I tried to bring the party to power (ahead of 1999 polls), the party formed the government and S M Krishna became the Chief Minister. He had come (as KPCC President) four months ahead (of polls)....all my service was washed down the river. I feel that -- I toiled for five years, but the person who came four months ago was made the CM," the Congress chief had said.
"What I'm trying to say is, we may face difficulties, but we must continue to work without greed in mind. If you are greedy, you won't get anything, also you won't be able to do what's in your mind. Passing through all these things, from being a block president, I have now become AICC President. I did not go behind positions," he further said.
Mahadevappa too, reacting to Kharge's statement on Monday had said, Kharge is one of the senior leaders in the country and he has all the required qualities to occupy any constitutional post, and our wish is that he should get an opportunity, whenever there is one.
Naming Dalit leaders in Congress who have occupied the CM post in other states like -- Damodaram Sanjivayya, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Jagannath Pahadia and Ram Sundar Das, he said, "When time comes the party will take a decision and everyone will abide by it."
However, trying to downplay speculations, Kharge's son and IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday said his father was merely sharing the path he had walked in his political career -- both ups and downs -- and that his speech should be seen in entirety not selectively. He has also made it clear that he has no regrets.
"From the blessings of everyone, the people of Kalaburagi and Karnataka, he is in the post that was once occupied by Subhas Chandra Bose and Gandhiji. Whatever he has decided on his political future, he will decide himself. He has earned that respect and reputation. He has a good relationship with the high command. Whatever he decides, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi will automatically accept it," he said.
