Kanwar Yatra: Supreme Court to hear plea challenging QR code mandate for vendors on July 15
The Supreme Court will hear on July 15, a writ petition seeking stay on the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand government’s decision mandating all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display QR code stickers on their banners.
The Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice NK Singh will hear the matter on July 15.
Filed by Professor Apoorvanand, the plea submitted that the decision, which enabled the pilgrims to know the names and identities of shop owners, would lead to religious profiling of vendors along the Kanwar Yatra route, along with polarization and discrimination in the states.
Noting that the directives had no backing in the law, the petitioner argued that the directions were contrary to the interim order passed by the Apex Court in 2024, ruling that sellers could not be forced to disclose their identities.
It said although the eateries were legally obliged to obtain licences and display them, the same needed to be displayed only inside the premises.
The state governments decision, however, made it compulsory for the vendors to display their names and identities on the billboards outside, which was an overstep.
Filed through AoR Akriti Chaubey, the plea warned that the directive may cause mob violence, especially against vendors belonging to minority communities.
It said the directive to reveal religious and caste identities couched under the garb of lawful licence requirement was a breach of privacy rights.
The requisite licence was a self-contained certificate, which although revealed the name of the owner, displayed inside the premises at a place where it may be accessed.
Equating this requirement to display a normal-sized licence with the directive to display name of owner, manager and other employees on billboards outside, or to not give eateries names which did not reflect the religious identity of the owner, were de hors the licence requirements, it added.
The post appeared first on India Legal.