An application has been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the recent directives issued by the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand requiring food vendors along the Kanwar Yatra route to display QR code stickers on their banners, which would enable pilgrims to access the names and details of the owners.
The application, filed by Professor Apoorvanand through Advocate-on-Record Akriti Chaubey, seeks a stay on all such directions mandating or facilitating public disclosure of ownership or employee identity of food sellers along the Yatra routes. The plea contends that these directives violate the Supreme Court’s interim order passed last year, which had held that food vendors cannot be compelled to disclose their identities.
According to the applicant, the new directions circumvent the earlier court ruling by introducing QR codes that serve the same purpose — revealing the identities of vendors — thereby enabling religious profiling along the pilgrim route.
“These measures, though framed differently, effectively achieve the same discriminatory profiling that this Hon’ble Court had previously stayed,” the application asserts.
The plea argues that while eateries are legally required to obtain licenses and display them, such display is meant to be inside the premises, not externally. Mandating QR codes or public billboards with personal details is, according to the applicant, an overreach that lacks statutory backing.
Raising concerns about communal tensions, the applicant submitted that publicly disclosing the names and identities of food vendors — especially those from minority communities — may lead to targeted hate and even mob violence.
Further, the application states that cloaking these measures under the guise of “lawful license requirements” infringes on the vendors’ right to privacy. It argues that requiring the display of names of owners, managers, or employees on banners or QR codes outside the shops — or compelling shops to adopt names that reflect the religious identity of their owners — is far beyond the scope of what food safety and license rules demand.
The present application is part of the ongoing writ petition titled Apoorvanand Jha and Another v. Union of India and Others [W.P. (C) 328 of 2024].
The matter is scheduled to be heard on July 15 by a Bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice NK Singh.
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