In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed all hotel owners along the Kanwar Yatra route to comply with statutory licensing and registration requirements.
Hotel owners shall comply with guidelines: SC
“At this stage, all the respective hotel owners shall comply with the mandate of license and registration certificate as required statutorily. We make it clear that we’re not going into the issues being argued. The application stands closed”, the Court stated in its order.
Regarding the issue of the QR Code mandate, the apex court clarified that it is not going to address it for now and stated that the issue related to the QR Code and other similar issues can be taken up in the main petition, which remains pending before the Court.
The ruling from the court came as it was hearing a plea challenging the Uttar Pradesh government’s mandate, which directed food stall owners along the Kanwar Yatra route to display a QR Code at their shops, disclosing their identities, among other details.
Bench of Justices MM Sundresh, N Kotiswar Singh heard pleas
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh said 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.
“We are told that today is the last day of the yatra. In any case it is likely to come to an end in the near future. Therefore, at this stage we would only pass an order that all the respective hotel owners shall comply with the mandate of displaying the licence and the registration certificate as per the statutory requirements,” the bench said.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by academician Apoorvanand Jha and others.
Supreme Court last year stayed similar directives
Last year, the Supreme Court stayed similar directives issued by Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh governments, asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners, staff and other details.
Referring to a press release issued by the Uttar Pradesh government on June 25, Jha, said, “The new measures mandate the display of QR codes on all eateries along the kanwar route which reveal the names and identities of the owners, thereby achieving the same discriminatory profiling that was previously stayed by this court.”
Plea says govt order breaches right to privacy
The petition said the state government’s directive asking stall owners to reveal religious and caste identities under “lawful license requirements” breaches the right to privacy of the shop, dhaba and restaurant owners.
A large number of devotees travel from various places with ‘kanwars’ carrying holy water from the Ganga to perform ‘jalabhishek’ of Shivling during the Hindu calendar month of ‘Shravan’. Many believers shun the consumption of meat during the month. Many do not even consume meals containing onion and garlic.