Latest news with #ApoorvanandJha
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Kanwar Yatra: SC directs eateries to display only license & registration info; refuses to interfere in QR code row
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed dhaba and restaurant owners along the Kanwar Yatra route to comply with the Uttar Pradesh government's mandate requiring the display of licence and registration information. '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 top court stated in its order, as quoted by ANI. Earlier this year, the Uttar Pradesh government issued an order requiring eateries to display QR codes containing information about their owners. Shortly afterward, the Uttarakhand government issued a similar directive. Last week, the apex court had issued notices to the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The petition, filed by academic Apoorvanand Jha and others, argues that such requirements violate citizens' fundamental rights and could lead to 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,' said Jha, citing a June 25 UP government press release. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Siemens Energy Enables Hydrogen-Ready Power Plants Siemens Energy Learn More Undo "Vague and overbroad directives deliberately mix up the licensing requirements with the other unlawful demand to display religious identity, and leave scope for violent enforcement of such a manifestly arbitrary demand both by vigilante groups and by authorities on the ground. There is grave and imminent risk of irreparable injury to the fundamental rights of affected vendors, particularly from minority communities, unless this Court issues immediate directions to restrain Respondents from continuing this indirect implementation," it added. The plea urged the Court to restrict such mandates to standard licensing norms and eliminate vague directives requiring identity disclosures. A similar directive issued last year was also stayed by the Supreme Court. The top court had restrained the UP and Uttarakhand governments from enforcing directives that required shop owners and hawkers along the Kanwar Yatra routes to display their names and those of their staff at their establishments. The Court held that food sellers were only obligated to indicate the type of food they were offering. In its 22 July order, the Court said: "We deem it appropriate to pass interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the impugned directives. In other words, the food sellers (including dhaba owners, restaurants, foods and vegetable sellers, hawkers, etc) may be required to display the kind of food that they are serving to the kanwariyas. But they must not be forced to display the name/identity of the owners and the employees deployed in their respective establishments."
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Kanwar yatra: Plea in Supreme Court against UP's QR code order for eateries
A female 'kanwariya' carrying water from the Ganga river during her pilgrimage in the holy month of 'Shravan' in Haridwar. NEW DELHI: A petition has been filed in Supreme Court challenging Uttar Pradesh government's directive to shopkeepers to put up QR codes at their eateries along the route of Kanwar Yatra, which could be scanned to reveal the names of the owners. SC is likely to hear the matter on July 15. In July last year, SC had stopped govts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, among others, from implementing their directives to shop owners and hawkers along the routes of Kanwar Yatra to display their names, along with those of staff members, at their outlets, and held that food sellers only needed to mention the kind of food they were serving. "We deem it appropriate to pass interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the impugned directives. In other words, the food sellers (including dhaba owners, restaurants, foods and vegetable sellers, hawkers, etc) may be required to display the kind of food that they are serving to the kanwariyas. But they must not be forced to display the name/identity of the owners and the employees deployed in their respective establishments," the court said in its order passed on July 22. Challenging the new order of UP govt, the plea filed in the apex court by Delhi University professor Apoorvanand Jha and activist Aakar Patel said that the measure amounted to violation of SC's last year order, since it was intended to achieve the same discriminatory profiling that was stopped by the court. "(News reports) confirm that all eateries on the Kanwar route are required to display QR codes that allow 'customers to access ownership details'. These steps effectively serve the same unconstitutional end through digital means, in wilful disobedience of this Court's directions," the petition said. "Vague and overbroad directives deliberately mix up the licensing requirements with the other unlawful demand to display religious identity, and leave scope for violent enforcement of such a manifestly arbitrary demand both by vigilante groups and by authorities on the ground. There is grave and imminent risk of irreparable injury to the fundamental rights of affected vendors, particularly from minority communities, unless this Court issues immediate directions to restrain Respondents from continuing this indirect implementation," it added.
New Indian Express
12-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Plea in SC seeks withdrawal of QR code mandate for eatery owners on Kanwar Yatra Route
NEW DELHI: An application has been filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday against the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments' fresh directive to shopkeepers along the Kanwar Yatra route to display QR codes for accessing owner details. The application filed by Apoorvanand Jha before the top court stated that the direction of the UP and Uttarakhand governments is contrary to the SC's order from last year, which held that sellers on the Kanwar Yatra route can't be forced to disclose their identities. "Direct the Respondent States (UP, Uttarakhand govts) to immediately withdraw all QR code-based identification mandates or any other mechanisms that result in disclosure of owner identity or religious profiling of vendors," said the application, a copy accessed by TNIE. It sought that further actions be taken under (whether oral, written or digital, including via QR codes), facilitating public disclosure of ownership/employee identity of food vendors along Kanwar Yatra routes in the States of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, pending final adjudication of the present writ petition.
