Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta on Monday raised in the Supreme Court the issue of halal certification of non-meat products such as atta (wheat flour), besan (gram flour), cement and iron bars, asking why should non-believers be made to pay higher prices for halal-certified products.
Mehta made the submissions before the apex court which was hearing the pleas challenging a Uttar Pradesh government notification prohibiting the manufacturing, storage, sale and distribution of food products with halal certification within the state, except for items produced for export.
Mehta, however, clarified that he was not against halal certification but only to the extent that various unrelated products are sought to be halal certified which is increasing the costs of the goods and reaping in “several lakhs of crore rupees” for the certifying agencies.
“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.
Halal is an Arabic word which means something permissible or lawful and in Islam, halal signifies products or food items which the Muslims are allowed to consume and use.