New Delhi [India], July 15 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand seeking their responses to a plea challenging the mandate that requires shopkeepers along the Kanwar Yatra route to display QR codes, which could be scanned to reveal the names of the owners.
The UP government had issued an order earlier this year, mandating eateries to display QR codes containing information on the shop owners. Subsequently, the Uttarakhand government also followed with a similar order.
The mandate, now being challenged in the Supreme Court, is alleged to be violative of the fundamental rights of citizens.
The plea further states that the direction requiring vendors to display their names and identities will lead to discriminatory profiling. It also notes that a similar mandate issued by the UP government last year was stayed by the Supreme Court.
Thus, the plea seeks the respondent government to explain how the said mandate does not violate the constitutional rights of citizens and the interim stay order issued by the Supreme Court last year.
The plea also suggests that such a mandate should be limited to standard licensing requirements, and vague directives requiring the display of names should be eliminated. After hearing submissions, the Court posted the matter to be heard next week.
Meanwhile, in Uttarakhand, Haridwar Police arrested two Kanwariyas on July 14 after a group of Kanwariyas vandalised a shop following an altercation with the shopkeeper, a police official said.
Superintendent of Police (SP) City, Pankaj Gairola, told ANI, "After an altercation between the Kanwariyas and the shopkeeper late last night, a group of Kanwariyas vandalised a shop near Shiv Ashray Grih Guest House in Haridwar."
He added that two Kanwariyas were arrested after the incident, and a search is going on for the accused who have absconded.