No decision on eatery nameplates yet: Himachal rethinks amid Cong turmoil

Himachal Pradesh on Thursday appeared to walk back a controversial announcement on the mandatory display of owners’ names in eateries and restaurants even as a political storm brewed over the Congress government emulating a move opposed by the party in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh just weeks ago.

Also Read: Himachal Pradesh takes cue from UP govt, makes it mandatory to display ‘owner's ID’ at eateries

A state government spokesperson said no final decision was taken on the sensitive matter, a day after senior minister Vikramaditya Singh referred to the UP diktat and said the government had already issued instructions to implement a similar policy.

“Numerous suggestions have been received from different sections of society regarding the street vendor’s policy. So far, the government has not taken any decision to mandatorily display nameplates or other identification by the vendors on their stalls,” the spokesperson said on Thursday.

Separately, two Congress functionaries told HT that an irked party high command expressed its displeasure at Singh’s plans.

Himachal Pradesh in-charge Rajiv Shukla had to speak to chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Vikramaditya Singh to resolve the situation, said the two people cited above. Later, Shukla said that a committee formed by the Himachal Pradesh Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania sought to regulate vendors by giving them license.

Shukla insisted that the vendors “don’t have to display their names” but the move was aimed “to ensure traffic does not get disturbed”.

“It is not like the UP [order],” Shukla said, “No order has been given. And he (Singh) has not been reprimanded,” Shukla added.

A senior Congress leader said that Singh’s move baffled the party high command. Any meeting between Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Sukhu might not take place but “high command’s message has been sent across to the state”, said the leader, requesting anonymity.

Singh’s announcement on Wednesday came a day after Uttar Pradesh said all restaurants and eateries in the state would have to prominently display the names and addresses of operators, proprietors, managers and staff, and that police verification drives will be held to ensure compliance.

Like Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh also argued that the step was meant to check adulteration. In a Facebook post, Singh shared the UP order and announced that Himachal will follow suit.

“In Himachal, every restaurant and fast food outlet will be required to display the owner’s ID to ensure that people face no difficulties. Instructions for this have been issued in the urban development and municipal corporation meeting held yesterday. Jai Shri Ram,” Singh said.

The decision coincided with widespread protests across Himachal Pradesh by Hindu organisations who demanded the verification and registration of the migrant workers and even alleged that many are working illegally in the state. The protests were triggered by disputes over allegedly illegal structures at a mosque in Shimla’s Sanjauli and another in Mandi.

Singh said that eateries will be provided IDs through the street vending committee and they will have to display these documents prominently. “It was decided in the meeting that all the street vendors, especially those selling food items, display their IDs to make sure that hygienic food is sold. Moreover, people have also raised some concerns and doubts. So, understanding this we have decided to implement a similar policy like in Uttar Pradesh, strictly here as well,” the minister told reporters on Wednesday.

But on Thursday, the government backtracked. The administration said that a committee, consisting of both Congress and BJP lawmakers, was constituted to address the matter. The committee was chaired by parliamentary affairs minister Harshwardhan Chauhan and included rural development and panchayati raj minister Anirudh Singh, Singh, and four legislators – BJP MLAs Anil Sharma, Satpal Satti, and Randhir Sharma and Congress MLA Harish Janartha.

The committee will review suggestions of various stakeholders before submitting its recommendations. “Once their detailed recommendations are submitted, the Cabinet would carefully evaluate them before making any final decisions on the matter,” the government spokesperson said.

A section of the Congress also felt jittery, said the two leaders cited above, because the party already suffered sabotage in the Rajya Sabha election in February this year, when Congress nominee Abhishek Singhvi lost due to cross-voting.

Singh, however, said on Thursday that the plan was taken to maintain “internal security” of the state, pointing out that maintenance of law and order and security was the responsibility of the state government.

“Shops normally display their registration number. But this is for the internal security of the state and the apprehensions that have been raised, this needs to be seen that way. An all-party committee has also been constituted and that would look into every detail...There can be no compromise with internal security concerns of the state,” he said.

“It is the responsibility of the state government and all of us to maintain peace in the state in wake of the chain of events that have taken place in Himachal Pradesh in the past few days,” Singh added.

A functionary close to Shukla maintained that he spoke to both the CM and Singh to know all aspects of the issue and has given his feedback to the high command. The party’s key concern, according to a second senior leader was that the plan was identical to what Yogi Adityanath had ordered in UP.

The Himachal Pradesh development presented a strange paradox, especially because the Congress had opposed the UP move just a day before. “This is proof the government is not able to do the work it was elected for. Poor people will now be harassed even more in the name of police verification. Small shop owners will be extorted in the name of compliance,” UP’s Congress chief Ajay Rai had said on Tuesday.

In July, the Supreme Court temporarily suspended a UP order mandating eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names, addresses and mobile numbers of their owners and staff. At the time, the top court had sharply criticised the state government and said the primary concern should be the type of food being served, not the community of those preparing or selling it.

The Kanwar directives, first passed by Uttar Pradesh and then followed by Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, purportedly aimed at respecting the dietary preferences of Hindu pilgrims and maintaining law and order during the Kanwar Yatra, sparked a political controversy.

Opposition leaders – including from the Congress – condemned the directives at the time as an overreach of government power and an encouragement of discrimination based on caste and religion. They also raised concerns about potential communal tensions and the stigmatisation of certain groups, particularly Muslims, who own many of the eateries along the yatra route.

On July 22, the Supreme Court issued an interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the controversial directives and saying that food business operators would only need to display the kind of food they are serving.

“We deem it appropriate to pass an interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the above directives. In other words, food sellers, including dhaba owners, hawkers etc. may be required to display the kind of food they are serving, but they don’t need to display the names of owners, staff and other details,” stated the bench in its order, as it issued notices to three states where these directives were in vogue.

The Himachal Pradesh BJP on Thursday supported the plan and said its government had started the process of creating ID cards for vendors.

“There is one thing about the statement made by Vikramaditya Singh. He spoke about something on which our government had started working. During the BJP government’s tenure, when we made this rule, attempts were made to raise a lot of questions at that time,” former chief minister Jairam Thakur said.