The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday questioned in the Supreme Court why the issue of halal certifications for non-meat products such as atta (wheat flour), besan (gram flour), cement and iron bars was brought before the court, asking why consumers across the country were compelled to purchase costlier halal-certified items, Live Law reported.

Halal is an Arabic term that means “lawful”. In the dietary context, where it is most commonly used, it refers to food that is permissible according to Islamic regulations.

In November 2023, the Uttar Pradesh government banned the sale, production, storage and distribution of halal-certified food items.

“So far as halal meat etc. is concerned, nobody can have any objection,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Uttar Pradesh government, told the court. “But your Lordships would be shocked, as I was shocked yesterday, even cement used is to be halal-certified! Sariyas [iron bars] used have to be halal-certified…Water bottles which we get are required to be halal-certified.”

Mehta said that halal-certifying agencies were charging high fees, alleging the total amount collected through this process could amount to several lakh crores, PTI reported.

After the ban, several petitions were filed before the Supreme Court – including those by Halal India Private Limited, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind Halal Trust and others – questioning the constitutionality of the notification.

On January 5, the Supreme Court issued notice to the state government on the basis of these petitions. Mehta was responding to this notice.

In response, the legal counsel for the petitioners argued that the central government’s policy provided detailed guidelines for defining a product as halal, which applied to items other than meat.

“Central government policy itself says its a matter of lifestyle,” Mehta said, giving examples of alcoholic substances being used as preservatives in products.

The Supreme Court has given the petitioners four weeks to file a response and scheduled the matter for further hearing during the week starting March 24.

The governments of several countries have legal mechanisms to certify halal food. In several others, private bodies offer halal certification to companies. In India, no legal authority provides halal certificates but some private organisations and religious groups do.

Manufacturers of food products seek the halal certificate almost entirely for export purposes as it is a legal requirement in several Muslim countries.

Scroll found that many products, though, find their way into the domestic market because manufacturers tend to cut costs involved in separate packaging. In the case of a vegetarian food product, the contents are exactly the same, and, more often than not, manufactured in the same production line.

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How Uttar Pradesh’s halal ban has plunged the processed food industry into chaos