The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stay the Uttar Pradesh government’s directive requiring restaurants along the Kanwar Yatra route to display QR codes with the names of their owners. However, the court did order restaurant owners to follow the Food Safety and Standards Act by displaying their license and registration certificates. The matter has been scheduled for another hearing in two weeks to check for compliance.
This decision came in response to petitions filed by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and academic Apoorvanand Jha, who argued that the QR code rule promotes religious profiling. They pointed out that existing Food Safety regulations do not require QR coding, and cited a previous Supreme Court ruling from July 2024 that stayed a similar Uttar Pradesh Police directive. That earlier ruling stated restaurant owners should not be forced to publicly display names of themselves or their staff.
While hearing the petitioners’ concerns, the bench, comprising Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh, said they were not addressing the QR code issue at this stage and suggested it could be challenged in the High Court. Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi criticized the move, calling it a divisive policy targeting minority communities and an attack on secular values.
