Gujarat High Court reinstates non-veg ban near Somnath temple

In a significant reversal, the Gujarat High Court has suspended a single judge's ruling that had struck down restrictions on the sale of non-vegetarian food along designated pilgrimage routes adjacent to the Somnath temple in Gir Somnath district. The appellate bench's decision came within hours of the lower court's relief being granted to hotel and restaurant owners operating in the vicinity. The stay order effectively reinstates the prohibition on non-veg food sales in the specified zones around the 11th-century shrine, one of the twelve Jyotirlingas and a major pilgrimage destination in Gujarat. The ruling maintains restrictions that had been challenged by hospitality businesses as a constraint on their commercial operations. The case now awaits full hearing in the High Court, where the substantive validity of the ban on non-vegetarian food sales near the sacred site will be examined in detail.