The Supreme Court has refused to give orders against the installation of special QR code at the shops of Kavad Yatra Marg. It was said in the petitions filed in the court that by scanning the QR code, the names of the shop owners can be known. This is a violation of last year’s order of the Supreme Court.
Last year’s order
In the order given on 26 July 2024, the Supreme Court had stayed the order of administration of writing the name of the shopkeeper outside the shop. Then the court had said that shopkeepers do not need to tell the names of themselves and their employees. They only have to tell what food they are selling. The petitioners were telling against this order for installing QR stickers.
‘Only the menu should be seen’
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared on behalf of the petitioner Delhi University Professor Apoorvanand. On behalf of TMC leader Mahua Moitra, senior advocate Hujifa Ahmadi cross -examined. Singhvi said that he is also Jain. He believes that the customer should see the menu of the restaurant, not its owner’s name. Ahmadi said that license is displayed in dhabas. The order to install QR stickers outside the shop is wrong. In this way some people are being described as untouchables.
State government arguments
On July 15, a bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice N. Kotishwar Singh sought a reply from the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments. On behalf of the UP government, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and Advocate General Jatinder Sethi appeared for Uttarakhand. Both the state governments said that the food safety and standards of the central government ask to give information about the seller of food and drink items. In previous years, the kanwadi has been seen to be furious when they get wrong food, therefore, they need to get complete information.
What did the judges say?
During the hearing, the court said that if the shop -selling shop is selling vegetarianism throughout the year, then this information should be done to the customer. After that he can take a decision himself. Everyone should understand that the customer is a king. The court said that he agrees with the argument not to write the shopkeeper’s name outside the shop, but will have to balance the religious sentiments of the pilgrims and the constitutional right of the shopkeepers in this case.
Supreme court order
After the hearing that lasted about 1 hour, the court said, ‘We have been told that today is the last day of the journey. We order that the shopkeepers display license and registration according to the law. We are currently settling the case. We are not going on other things yet. The main petitions are still pending. All the parties will be heard during their hearing.