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Supreme Court Directs Kanwar Yatra Eateries to Display Licences, Sidesteps QR Code Issue

Closing the petition on the pilgrimage’s last day, the court ruled identity-code mandates moot under its order to limit vendors to licence displays.

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The court added that it was not going into the other issues of displaying the name of the hotel or dhaba owner and the QR code as Tuesday is the last day of the Kanwar Yatra.
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Overview

  • A bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh ordered all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to display only their statutory licence and registration certificates.
  • The court declined to examine or stay QR code directives requiring owner identities, deeming that challenge moot as the month-long pilgrimage concluded and closing the petition.
  • Petitioners led by Professor Apoorvanand Jha argued that QR code requirements violate fundamental rights and facilitate religious or caste-based profiling of minority vendors.
  • Earlier this year, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand revived QR code mandates linking to vendor identity and hygiene data after a July 2024 stay barred nameplate displays.
  • FSSAI rules require licence postings but do not mandate public owner identities, and critics warn that the QR code measures risk deepening communal tensions.