New Delhi: The contentious Kanwar Yatra route directive in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand has reached the Supreme Court.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh on Tuesday issued notice to the two state governments, seeking a response on a petition challenging the directive which mandates displaying QR codes by food stall owners along the yatra route, revealing names and identities of owners.
The plea, filed by academician Apoorvanand Jha and others, will be taken up in the top court on July 22.
The Kanwar Yatra, which began on July 11, is expected to conclude by August 9.
Separate applications were filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra and professor Jha challenging the June 25 order issued by UP administration requiring shop owners to display QR codes containing details of shop ownership outside their establishment.
The applications pointed out that such a directive violated a July 22, 2024 order passed by the Supreme Court when states were prohibited from coercing food stall owners to display their identities being as it was in breach of their right to privacy.
After going through the petitions, justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh issued notice on the applications and sought a response from the two UP and Uttarakhand governments before the next date of hearing a week later.
Moitra’s counsel, senior advocate Shadan Farasat told the judges that the matter required urgent attention as the directive has already been implemented. He requested for an early date, but the two-judge bench posted the matter for July 22 to facilitate responses from the state governments.
Jha had approached the top court last year also against a similar directive.
On July 22, 2024, the Supreme Court issued an interim stay on the enforcement of such directives, observing that the display of personal identity was neither backed by law nor necessary for the stated purpose of public order or food safety compliance. The court had clarified that no food stall owner can be forced to display the identity while it was open for persons to do so voluntarily.
However, the court last year directed shopkeepers selling food items on Kanwar Yatra route to display names of owners and the employees at a prominent place outside the shop, dhaba or restaurant.
Moitra and Jha’s applications pointed out that state authorities “circumvented the stay” issued by the top court by reintroducing the same directive requiring the name of the shop owner to be clearly displayed at each shop in QR code form under the garb of public safety and maintenance of law and order.
“These steps effectively serve the same unconstitutional end through digital means, in wilful disobedience of this court’s directions,” Jha said in his application filed through advocate Akriti Chaubey.