The Supreme Court on Monday stayed directives by authorities in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand requiring eateries along the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage route to display their owners’ names outside the establishments, reported Live Law.

The bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti passed the interim order while issuing notice on a batch of petitions challenging the directives. The court said, however, that the eateries must display information about the type of food they are serving.

The court will hear the matter next on Friday.

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and the Association of Protection of Civil Rights had filed petitions challenging the directives, while Delhi University professor Apoorvanand Jha and activist Aakar Patel had also jointly filed a similar plea.

The petitioners contended that the directives would facilitate discrimination on the grounds of religion and caste, and that they violate fundamental rights.

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

In 2023, Yashveer Maharaj, a priest from an ashram in Muzaffarnagar, had demanded that Muslim owners of establishments display their names on their businesses.

During the Kanwar Yatra, devotees, called Kanwariyas, walk hundreds of kilometres to collect water from the Ganga near Haridwar and carry it back to their home states to offer at temples.

The devotees mainly come from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. This year’s Kanwar Yatra started on Monday and will conclude on August 2.

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.

In Madhya Pradesh, another BJP-ruled state, the civic body in Ujjain has 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 began on Monday.

This is a developing story. It will be updated as details become available.

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