Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Delhi University professor Apoorvanand Jha and activist Aakar Patel have moved the Supreme Court challenging directives issued by the authorities in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand that require eateries along the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage route to display their owners’ names, reported The Hindu on Sunday.

The directives apply to the proprietors of dhabas, food stalls and hotels along the pilgrimage route in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar and Uttarakhand’s Haridwar.

The petition by Jha and Patel contends that the directives are a deliberate attempt to discriminate on the grounds of religion and caste, and that they violate fundamental rights.

Their petition said that the state governments were using their administrative apparatus to suppress the rights of shopkeepers belonging to certain communities. These directives lack the authority of law and should be quashed, they said.

“These directives promote discrimination solely based on religious and caste identity as they do not require the display of food items being served or a statement that no non-vegetarian or non-satvik food is being served, but only the display of religious or caste identity explicit in one’s name,” the petition said.

The directives invited criticism from various quarters, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s allies in the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre. The BJP is in power in both states.

Moitra, who has filed a separate petition, said that the directives can lead to communal discord and threaten the livelihoods of affected individuals. The Lok Sabha MP from West Bengal’s Krishnanagar urged the court to immediately stay their implementation.

The directives constitute a forcible disclosure of religious identity under the guise of honouring the dietary preferences of pilgrims, the Trinamool Congress leader’s petition contended, adding that they would facilitate a socially-enforced economic boycott of Muslim shopkeepers.

Trinamool Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale said that he filed a case with the National Human Rights Commission against Muzaffarnagar Police on July 18 for the “shocking order”, which he said was “discriminating against Muslims”.

In his application before the human rights panel, Gokhale stated that it is an “extremely mischievous and unlawful order” that has been issued to “force vendors and sellers from the minority community to display their names so that an establishment can be identified as being owned/run by a Muslim”.

He said that there was no requirement under law for vendors or restaurants to display the names of the owner and staff, and that customers should have zero concern with the religion or caste of the food seller.

Gokhale urged the commission to direct the police to rescind the order and issue directions for an investigation into the matter.

The Supreme Court is also scheduled to hear on Monday a connected plea filed by the Association of Protection of Civil Rights against the Uttar Pradesh government’s contentious orders in Muzaffarnagar.

The civic body in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain has also directed all shops in its jurisdiction to display their owners’ names and mobile numbers to ensure “customer safety”, PTI reported on Sunday.

Ujjain is home to the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga temple, which attracts thousands of Hindu pilgrims in the month of Saavan, which begins on Monday.

Also read: Kanwar yatra food directive is unconstitutional – and the police know this