High Court to UP: Food habits linked to right to life

LUCKNOW: A Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has observed that food, food habits and vending of food are linked to the right to life and must not be curbed by the state.

Hearing a petition by a retail meat shop-owner from Kheri, who had appealed for the renewal of his licence in view of the crackdown by the UP government against illegal slaughterhouses and meat shops, the bench of Justices A P Sahi and Sanjai Harkauli expressed concern that meat shops were being closed without considering the renewal of licences of the shop owners.

Directing the government's high-powered committee (to be headed by the chief secretary) to deliberate on the issue on April 10 to resolve the controversy, the bench observed, "Food that is conducive to health cannot be treated as a wrong choice and it is for this reason that provisions are obligated on the state to be made available for maintaining the requirement of supply of healthy food stuff." The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court asked the government to apprise it of the conclusion of the committee's deliberations on April 13.

The bench pored over the legal and constitutional provisions in this regard earlier this week and said that Article 21 of the Constitution extends the right to life to every citizen.

The observations contained echoes of what the Bombay HC had said on the Maharashtra beef ban about a year ago. It had said: "As far as the choice of eating food of the citizens is concerned, the citizens are required to be let alone, especially when the food of their choice is not injurious to health... The state cannot make an intrusion into his home and prevent a citizen from possessing and eating food of his choice..."

Hearing a related petition, the Allahabad HC also directed the government to apprise it of the decision of the committee to deliberate on the issue of granting and renewing licences of slaughterhouses and meat shops.

The state government has said it never intended to ban the consumption of meat, which means that it was not going to close all slaughterhouses and meat shops, but wanted these to be regulated.