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A Public Interest Litigation has been filed by Advocate and Social Activist Vibhor Anand seeking directions of the court to ban Halal certified products across India, withdraw Halal Certified products from markets & declare Halal certifications issued since 1974 null & void.

The plea states that it has been filed by Anand on behalf of 85% Citizens of the Country for the enforcement of their Fundamental Rights provided under Article 14, 21 of the Constitution of India. According to the plea, the fundamental rights of 85% of the population is being infringed and violated because for the sake of 15% of the population, rest 85% people are being forced to consume Halal Products against their will.

According to the plea, Halal Certification was firstly introduced in year 1974 for slaughtered and meat products and was unheard of prior to that. The plea further states that from the year 1974 to the year 1993 the Halal Certification was only restricted to the meat products however it soon covered numerous products. The plea’s further states that initially the certification was limited to processed food products, however new categories of products have been added regularly including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, health products, toiletries and medical devices.

The plea states that today, there is halal friendly tourism, medical tourism, warehouse certification, restaurant certification and training among others in the ‘ever-expanding list’.  The plea states that Halal certification is even permeating into services like logistics, media, branding and marketing. The plea states that it may be best to apply the free and open market principles and let the end consumer be the decision-maker. According to the plea, it is prayed that, “If non-Muslim consumers feel cheated or hurt by halal certification, they should be given option of buying non-Halal products.”

According to the plea, most businesses have started serving only halal meat now to save the cost of maintaining to supply chains, for halal and non-halal meat. The plea further states that people who may not be comfortable with halal meat, or for people with religions where only jhatka meat is allowed, no longer have any choice in the matter. According to the plea “if they are ordering meat at a restaurant, they get halal only by default.”

The plea further alleges that in India, halal certification is done by five or six major certification organisations and that such organisations have religious backgrounds like the Jamiat-Ulama-E-Maharashtra and Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind Halal Trust. According to the plea the certification procedure as listed on the website of Jamiat-Ulama-E-Maharashtra states that a team of two auditors shall audit the production facility and based on their report and documents submitted the technical and Sharia committees will assess and approve the certification. The plea alleges that the process does not appear to include any scientific or analytical testing of materials or the final product. According to the plea “It is obvious that these organisations play the role of influencers for acceptance of the certified products by Muslims worldwide. The government per se has no role in this process.”

The plea further raises questions of law such as “Whether Constitution of India is Supreme or Sharia Law would prevail over the Constitution of India?” The plea also questions as to whether right to eat food of his/her own choice comes under the definition of Right to Life under Art. 21 of the Constitution of India.

The plea therefore urges Supreme Court to o declare all the certificates issued by the Halal certification organisations right from 1974 as null and void ab initio and seeks directions to ban the all the products which have been have certified by the agencies. The plea further urges the Supreme Court to issue directions to Pharma and food companies to withdraw all Halal Certified Foods and other Consumable products from markets across the country.

Case title: Vibhor Anand Vs Union of India