India, Oct. 22 -- The right to business cannot override the religious, historical and cultural character of a pilgrimage destination, the Gujarat Government has told the High Court while defending the ban on non-vegetarian food around the famous Somnath Temple.

The Gujarat HC was on Wednesday hearing a plea challenging a state notification banning sale and storage of non-vegetarian food within a 500-metre radius of the Somnath Temple, a shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva located in Gir Somnath district.

Defending the ban, the Government told a bench of Justice Nisha M Thakor that Somnath cannot be viewed merely as a commercial town, ignoring its extraordinary religious, historical and spiritual significance to millions of Hindus across the ...