SC notice to UP govt on plea against ban on sale of halal certified food

The ban on halal certified food is an outcome to an FIR being registered in Lucknow against four organisations, production companies, their owners and managers and other unidentified people for unnecessarily extorting money and promoting enmity in the name of religion, writes Sumit Saxena.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on a plea challenging the ban imposed on Halal-certified products in Uttar Pradesh. However, the apex court declined to pass any interim order that no coercive action be taken under the notification.

The matter came before a bench comprising justices BR Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta. The bench asked the counsel, representing a petitioner, why should the court entertain the matter under Article 32 jurisdiction? The bench said that the high court could consider it. The counsel replied that the matter has a pan-India effect. The bench observed that if the high court were to stay the notification, it will have an effect across the country.

The counsel stressed that there is an immediate effect on interstate trade and industry and on the consumer and added that it will have a pan-India effect. Another counsel submitted that the matter has national implications. After hearing submissions, the court issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and others. The apex court’s order came on a plea filed by Halal India Private Limited and others through advocate Ejaz Maqbool.

Last year in November, Uttar Pradesh government banned production, storage, distribution and sale of halal-certified products in the state, however, exempted exports from the embargo.

The plea also cited an FIR registered only a day prior to the issuance of the notification, presupposing a ban on halal certified food and other items, and is therefore only an example of the mala fide exercise of powers by the state.

“It is submitted that the abovementioned Impugned FIR and the Impugned Notification is evidently arbitrary, is targeted towards the religious beliefs of a particular community in the country, infringes upon the fundamental rights guaranteed to the petitioners under Articles 14, 19, 21, 25, 26 and 29 of the Constitution of India and is against the idea of secularism enshrined in the Constitution”, said the plea.

“it is the Petitioner No. 1 company which caters to the requirements of the followers of Islam by providing halal certifications by following a robust mechanism which is only in accordance with the shariat/Islamic laws, and the halal certified items by the Petitioner No. 1 Company is exported to several countries in the world which has Islam as their state religion”, said the plea.

The plea said there exists several other certifying non-governmental agencies which certify satvik food, which is the food consumed by citizens following a particular religion in the country. “However, the same has not been brought under the ambit the Impugned Notification. Therefore, the Impugned Notification selectively prohibits the citizens of this country who are followers of Islamic culture and values, from consuming food and using materials which are halal certified/permissible in accordance with Islamic culture and values”, said the plea.

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