Heavy drama in High Court over ban on non-veg sale near Somnath temple

An extremely dramatic sequence of events was witnessed in the Gujarat High Court on Friday, 30 October, regarding the ban imposed on the sale of non-vegetarian food items at the Somnath Mahadev temple and its surrounding holy pilgrimage routes. There was a major shift in the legal situation during the day, in which the major relief received by hotel owners in the afternoon was stayed by the division bench in the evening.

According to the report of Dainik Bhaskar, some restaurant owners had filed a petition in the High Court to lift the ban on the sale of non-veg around the Somnath temple. At around 3 pm in the afternoon, single judge Justice Nisha M. Thakore accepted these petitions and quashed the notification issued by the District Magistrate. The court stated in its verdict that the local administration has misused its power.

However, following this verdict, the legal machinery of the state government swung into immediate action. According to the report of TV9 Gujarati, Advocate General Kamal Trivedi and Government Pleader G.H. Virk kept aside other legal work of the day to challenge this verdict. The state government filed an immediate appeal before the division bench of Chief Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak and Justice Nirzar Desai. At around 6:45 pm in the evening, the division bench stayed the execution of the single judge's verdict, which paved the way for the ban on non-veg to continue. Thus, a legal twist came in this case in less than 4 hours.

The beginning of this dispute took place with a notification issued by the Collector and District Magistrate of Gir Somnath on 10 August, 2026. Under this notification, a complete ban was imposed on preparing, storing, or selling non-vegetarian food items within a 500-meter radius of the Somnath temple and on 6 main pilgrimage routes connecting the temple. These pilgrimage routes include important places like Bhalka Tirth, Bhidiya Circle, Shankh Circle, Safari Circle, Gita Temple, and Hamirji Circle.

The petitioners and restaurant owners argued that they have been doing business with licenses for the last 20-25 years, but the government is forcibly shutting it down. They claimed that a trader was even taken to a police chowki and a written document was taken from him stating that he would not sell non-veg in the future. According to the petitioners, this step is a violation of their fundamental freedom to practice business under constitutional Article 19(1)(g). They also stated that without giving any new reason, the government is gradually turning the entire city of Somnath into a 'veg zone' by placing new orders on top of old orders.

On the other hand, Gujarat government lawyer G.H. Virk argued that Somnath is not just a market, but an extremely holy religious place. He stated that 1.16 crore devotees visit here in 9 months. The government argued that such bans also exist at places like Haridwar, Rishikesh, Amritsar (Golden Temple), Mathura-Vrindavan, and Ayodhya, and the High Court has considered them appropriate. According to the government, they are not shutting down shops, they are only permitting the sale of vegetarian alternatives. Along with this, the argument was also made that since the Somnath district has newly been formed and due to the creation of the temple corridor, it is necessary to extend the area of the ban.

The main argument of the state government was that Somnath is the first among the twelve Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva and its spiritual importance is extraordinary. This region is also associated with the final leelas of Lord Sri Krishna. According to the government, commercial freedom cannot be viewed in an unlimited manner at places of religious and cultural importance. Currently, with the division bench granting a stay, the ban remains operational, but the government may now approach the division bench or the Supreme Court in this matter.