The Gujarat High Court on Thursday, 9 December, chastised the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for having taken action against street vendors selling non-vegetarian food.
While hearing a plea filed by 20 street vendors who have been prohibited from selling non-veg, the Bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav remarked, "You don't like non-veg food, it is your lookout. How can you decide what people should eat outside? How can you stop people from eating what they want?”
This comes after several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-run civic bodies in Gujarat, such as the ones in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, and Bhavnagar, have taken action towards removing non-vegetarian food carts and stalls from the main roads, in the name of "hurt religious sentiments".
'Nothing but Bigotry'
The street vendors have challenged the non-implementation of the Street Vendors [Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending] Act, 2014.
The plea filed through advocate Ronith Joy reads, "Non-vegetarian food is being prepared and sold within the State of Gujarat for centuries. There is no embargo to sell eggs or other non-vegetarian food items either in the Constitution or nay other law enacted by Parliament. Under what authority or power are the Respondents preventing the petitioners and persons alike from vending is something that is not available in the public domain. This is nothing but bigotry to say the least”, LiveLaw reported.
The petitioners have also submitted that their carts/stalls were seized by the authorities without following due procedure.
On 15 November, the Town Planning Committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation had declared that food stalls selling non-vegetarian food will not be allowed on main roads among other designated places. Committee Chairman Devang Dani had stated, "Stalls selling non-vegetarian items will not be allowed along public roads and in the 100-meter radius of schools, colleges, and religious places."
(With inputs from LiveLaw.)
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