The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments on a petition challenging directives that require eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display quick response, or QR codes, with the names and identities of their owners, Live Law reported.

The states were told to file their replies within a week. Although both states had requested two weeks, a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh noted the petitioner’s argument that the matter was “time-sensitive”.

The case will be heard next on July 22.

During the Kanwar Yatra, devotees, called Kanwariyas, walk hundreds of kilometres to collect water from the Ganga near Haridwar and carry it back to their home states to offer at temples.

The devotees mainly come from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.

This year’s Kanwar Yatra started on Saturday and will conclude on August 9.

The petition in the Supreme Court was filed by Delhi University Professor Apoorvanand, who argued that the mandate violates a 2024 interim order of the court that prohibited forcing vendors to disclose their identities.

The QR codes, now being made mandatory for all food stalls and eateries along the pilgrimage route, would enable pilgrims and others to access personal details of business owners, said the petition.

It contended that this not only undermines the spirit of the Supreme Court’s stay but also risks discriminatory profiling, particularly of vendors from minority communities, under the guise of public safety and licensing requirements.

The plea claimed that the governments’ orders violate the fundamental right to privacy and dignity.

The plea pointed out that while vendors are legally required to display licenses, those are meant to be posted inside their premises, not put up prominently outside or through public QR codes.

The “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”, the plea further added.

Also read: Kanwar yatra food directive is unconstitutional – and the police know this