SC disposes of plea against QR code directive for eateries on Kanwar Yatra route

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to examine the legality of the directive mandating all food establishments along the Kanwar Yatra route in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to display a QR code that allows pilgrims to access “ownership details”.

A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh closed the plea filed by academician Apoorvanand Jha and others, noting that the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage is ending on Tuesday.

In its order, the Justice Sundresh-led Bench said that all the hotel owners will comply with the mandate of displaying the license and registration certification as required under the existing law.

The apex court clarified that it has not gone into the merits of the plea contending that the directive to display the QR codes is a breach of privacy rights, and has a discriminatory and stigmatising effect.

During the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, representing the Uttar Pradesh government, said that the directions were issued under the Food Safety and Standards Regulations.

The plea filed before the apex court had contended that the state action, neither authorised by statute nor necessary for a legitimate purpose, was wholly disproportionate, discriminatory and had a stigmatising effect.

It said that such “discriminatory profiling” had previously been deprecated by the top court on the ground that the display of personal identity was neither backed by law nor necessary for the purpose of public order or food safety compliance.

In July last year, the Supreme Court had stayed the operation of controversial directives issued by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments requiring all eateries and dhabas along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of owners and workers.

Issuing notice on petitions challenging the “nameplate” directives, a Bench headed by Justices Hrishikesh Roy (now retired) had remarked that the devotees may be served with food of their choice, maintaining standard hygiene.

As per the plea, despite the above order, the state of Uttar Pradesh and other authorities are circumventing the interim stay order of the apex court by reintroducing the same directive this time in the form of display of QR codes.

It referred to a press note issued by the Chief Minister’s office on June 25, which reflected “renewed administrative support for name displays” and expressly called for “shopkeeper names to be clearly displayed” during the Yatra.

IANS