‘Non-serving of non-veg…’: SC lawyers protest against canteen for providing only Navratri menu, say ‘wrong precedent’

A section of Supreme Court lawyers on Thursday launched a protest against the canteen on the court's premises which had decided to serve only vegetarian food during the ongoing Navratri festival. In a letter to the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of India (SCBA), the lawyers said the decision was “unprecedented” and "will also set a very wrong precedent for the future”.

Read the full letter here:

The letter, which was sent to the SCBA president, said, “We are writing to you in the context of the Supreme Court canteen serving only navratra food during the on-going navratra festival which started from today. Lawyers in Supreme Court have been observing the navratra festival all along. They would bring from home their special food from home for the 9 days without any fuss (sic).”

It further said, “For the first time this year the Supreme Court canteen has announced that it will only serve navratra food. This is not only unprecedented and will also set a very wrong precedent for the future.”

“While we have no objection or on the contrary be happy if the canteen, in addition to its normal menu, also provide the navratra food to those observing it, it should not be imposed on others,” the letter also added

“The Supreme Court canteen caters to all. We are all dependent on it. Non-serving of non-vegetarian or food with onion-garlic to cater to the wishes of a few is not in keeping with our pluralist traditions and would result in lack of respect for each other. Once this is allowed, it will open the floodgates to a lot of other impositions as well. We would therefore request you to kindly ask the canteen to provide its normal menu. At the same time, we will be glad if they can provide the Navratra menu to those observing it,” the letter concluded.