Food choices sacred

Upholding the right of people eating out to choose any kind of food, the Gujarat High Court’s rap to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for overreaching its authority in the matter comes as a relief to the street hawkers making an honest living by selling non-vegetarian foodstuff. The court minced no words in its reproach to the AMC commissioner as it firmly said the zeal to confiscate the carts and materials of the vendors was nothing but a pandering to the ‘ego’ of the powers that be: ‘Suddenly because somebody in power thinks that this is what they want to do?’ The order restoring the liberties of all stakeholders concerned should caution the other civic bodies of Gujarat — Vadodara, Surat, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Rajkot — which have similarly exceeded the limits of due process and impinged upon the residents’ freedom to pick the menu by banning the sale of non-veg food. That these bans followed the Rajkot Mayor’s statement in November to the effect that the sale of meat and eggs hurts religious sentiments casts a cloud on the AMC’s plea that the action against the hawkers was a drive against encroachments. Even as the Single-Bench Judge talked tough, he disposed of the affected vendors’ petition, saying that while the corporation was authorised to remove the encroachments, it should look into requests for the release of the impounded goods.

Gujarat has had a controversial history with regard to the food habits of people — all tilted towards one taste. Be it the cow slaughter ban or the prohibition of liquor or the then Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s declaration to convert Gujarat into a ‘vegetarian state’ in his Budget speech of 2017, they have all spurred angry protests. Incidentally, a number of petitions challenging prohibition as an invasion into privacy are pending before the state HC.

Earlier in March, the Gurugram MC’s decision to close all meat shops on Tuesdays, allegedly in deference to the religious sentiments of a particular community, had sparked concerns of undue interference. The local bodies must refrain from biting off more than they can chew.