SC Issues Notice To UP Govt Over ‘QR Code’ Diktat To Eateries Along Kanwar Yatra Route To Reveal Their Identities

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government seeking response on the plea challenging the government’s directive to shopkeepers along the Kanwar Yatra route, asking them to put up QR codes at their eateries to reveal their names and religious and caste identities.

Kanwar Yatra started on July 11 this year and will continue till July 23, 2025.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh gave one-week time to the UP government and posted the matter for further hearing on July 22. An academician and DU Professor, Apoorvanand Jha, challenged the UP government’s order for eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route and cited previous stays on the similar “discriminatory profiling.”

“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,” the plea said referring to the UP administration order issued on June 25.

Seeking stay on all such directives, Apoorvanand Jha’s plea further stated that the UP 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.

The Supreme Court last year also stayed similar directives issued by BJP-ruled UP and Uttarakhand governments asking shop owners to display their names.

A large number of devotees travel from various places with ‘kanwars’ carrying holy water from the Ganga to perform ‘jalabhishek’ of Shivlings during the Hindu calendar month of ‘Shravan’. Many believers shun consumption of meat during the month. Many don’t even consume meals containing onions and garlic.

Kanwar Yatra 2025: What’s The QR Code Rule?

Under the updated guidelines for the Kanwar Yatra, all food stalls along the pilgrimage route are now required to display QR code-enabled stickers linked to the Food Safety Connect App. Scanning the code reveals key information such as the vendor’s name, registration number, address and menu.

The Food Safety and Drug Administration has also instructed vendors to prominently display food prices. During inspections in major cities including Lucknow, Ayodhya, Meerut, and Muzaffarnagar, officials destroyed uncovered juice containers and expired food items.

Although the Uttar Pradesh government has not issued fresh directives regarding nameplates or religious identification ahead of this year’s yatra, the mandatory digital sticker has sparked comparisons to a July 2024 directive. At that time, the UP Police had instructed shopkeepers on the Kanwar route to display their names and contact numbers, a move that drew criticism from Opposition parties.

Yogi’s QR Code Rule Receives Opposition Backlash

Politics has reignited in Uttar Pradesh with the start of Kanwar Yatra as the UP government intensified its food safety campaign along the Kanwar Yatra route and mandated all eateries to display QR-code-enabled stickers. The Yogi government’s order for eateries has received massive backlash from the opposition parties including Samajwadi Party and Congress.

Slamming the UP government, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that new directive prompts the top officials to invest their time in providing various facilities related to food and health to the Kanwar yatris. “They should, the Commissioner, DM and SP should be deployed to make food arrangements for the Kanwar yatris. CO and SDM ko lagao unke pair dabane ke liye (CO, SDM should be deployed to provide them with ease).”

“This will perhaps give them relief. This is our Vedic custom. The government should issue an order that says that DM, SP will make food and health arrangements for the Kanwar yatris and CO, SDM unke pair vair daba kar sewa karenge,” Yadav said.

When asked to comment on the state government’s directive to display the names of the shops along the Kanwar yatra routes, the SP chief criticised the Yogi Adityanath government for its failure to construct a dedicated corridor for the Shiv devotees undertaking the Kanwar yatra.

“They should have constructed the corridor they were propagating about for Kanwariyas. They should have built an infrastructure for the Kanwar devotees that would have provided them with facilities (and ease). Why are they not able to provide the facilities? It was their responsibility to build a corridor for the Kanwariyas that would have provided them with the recommended food and rest. They are using these applications of QR code (highlighting names) to hide their incompetence,” he asserted.

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