A day after Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh said he had ordered food stall owners to display their names and identification cards, the state government said it had not yet decided on the matter, The Indian Express reported.
“So far, the state government has not made any decision regarding the mandatory display of nameplates or any other form of identification by the vendors at their stalls,” the newspaper quoted a government spokesperson as saying. “The government is committed to addressing the issues related to street vendors and will consider all suggestions thoughtfully before making a decision.”
A committee headed by state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Chauhan has also been formed to look into the street vendors’ policy, the spokesperson said, adding that it included Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs.
This committee was constituted by Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania against the backdrop of communal tensions pertaining to Shimla’s Sanjauli mosque.
Members of the BJP and the Vishva Hindu Parishad have claimed that the mosque has been constructed illegally.
The tensions were triggered by a fight between two shopkeepers from different communities and led to Hindutva groups demanding mandatory registration of migrant workers as well as the demolition of portions of the mosque.
Singh on Thursday sought to clarify his previous comments on the matter and told The Indian Express that he spoke about it in his capacity as a minister and not as a member of the committee on the street vendors’ policy.
“The committee is yet to form a policy,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “But whatever I said pertaining to the display of IDs of owners at eateries and food stalls is based on certain guidelines issued by the apex court and some high courts.”
On Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath directed eateries in the state to prominently display the names and addresses of their operators, proprietors and managers.
The state government claimed that the directive was aimed at ensuring cleanliness in eateries. However, the order came barely two months after a controversy erupted over a government directive that had asked eateries along the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage route to display their owners’ names.
The Supreme Court issued an interim stay on the order on July 22 after a batch of petitions argued that it would facilitate discrimination on the grounds of religion and caste.
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