New Delhi: Solicitor general of India Tushar Mehta on Monday raised in the Supreme Court the issue of halal certification of non-meat products such as iron bars and cement, flagging why non-believers should be made to pay higher cost for halal-certified products.
The top law officer made the submissions during hearing of pleas challenging a notification prohibiting the manufacturing, storage, sale and distribution of food products with halal certification within Uttar Pradesh barring items produced for export.
“So far as halal meat is concerned, nobody can have any objection. But your lordships would be shocked, as I was shocked, that even cement and iron bars used are to be halal certified,” Mehta submitted before a bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Augustine George Masih.
The SG said the halal-certifying agencies were charging and the total amount collected in the process might be a few lakh crore.
“Even ‘atta’ (wheat flour) and ‘besan’ (gram flour) has to be halal-certified. How can ‘besan’ be halal or non-halal?” asked Mehta.
The counsel appearing for the petitioners said the Centre’s policy says it was a matter of lifestyle. “All this is voluntary. Nobody is forcing anyone,” the petitioners’ counsel said.
Mehta referred to non-believers and said why they should be made to pay a higher price only because some people wanted halal-certified products. The bench was informed that the Centre had filed an affidavit in the matter.
The top court granted four weeks to the petitioners to file a rejoinder and said the matter would be heard in the week commencing March 24.
The November 18, 2023 notification was issued by the office of the commissioner, Food Safety and Drug Administration, Uttar Pradesh, under the provision of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
In its counter affidavit filed in the top court, the Centre said the grievance of the petitioner related to the November 18, 2023 notification issued by the Food Safety and Drug Administration of Uttar Pradesh, which fell entirely under the jurisdiction and authority of the state.
The Centre said the Union ministry of commerce and industry had no role or authority over such state-level regulations or notifications. The ministry was primarily concerned with the promotion and regulation of international and domestic trade, industrial growth, and export promotion in India, the affidavit said.
Several petitions, including those by Halal India Private Limited and others and “Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind Halal Trust,” were filed in the apex court.
