Supreme Court issues notice on PIL seeking mandatory display of shop owners’ names at entrance

In the PIL, a direction has been sought to the Central and State governments to ask the shop owners to display details like name, address and phone number at the entry gate itself in “bold letters”

The Supreme Court on July 21 (Monday) issued notice to the respondents on a public interest litigation seeking mandatory disclosure of shop owner and seller details as part of consumer's 'right to know' about products they purchase.

A division bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order, after hearing Advocate Eklavya Dwivedi on behalf of petitioner-Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, LiveLaw reported.

The PIL has made The Union Government, all State Governments, and the Law Commission of India as respondents and sought for declaration saying every consumer has 'right to know' not only the details of the goods or products but also of the shop owners to seek appropriate redressal under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

The PIL has been reported to say, “....declaration that every consumer has 'right to know' not only about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard, manufacturing date, expiry date and BIS/FSSAI certification of goods/products, but also details of the Distributor, Dealer, Trader, Seller and Shop Owner, so as to seek redressal against unfair restrictive trade practices and unscrupulous exploitation in spirit of provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.”

Further, a direction has been sought to the Central and State governments to ask the shop owners to display details like name, address and phone number at the entry gate itself in “bold letters”.

It has been quoted, “...direction to the Centre and States to ensure that every Distributor, Dealer, Trader, Seller and Shop Owner displays details of Registration including Name, address, phone number and number of employees at the entry gate in bold letters on a display board visible to an ordinary person of ordinary prudence.”

Notably, during last year’s Kanwar Yatra, the Supreme Court passed an interim order saying that shop owners and sellers can't be forced to disclose their identities.

It is reported that an application was filed in the Supreme Court recently against the directives issued by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Governments to food sellers along the Kanwar Yatra route to display QR code stickers on their banners to enable the pilgrims to access the details of the owners.

The Supreme Court on July 15 sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to a plea challenging this requirement for food vendors along the Kanwar Yatra route to display QR code stickers along with the owners’ names prominently on banners outside their establishments.

Issuing notice, a Bench headed by Justice MM Sundresh listed a series of applications for hearing on July 22.

According to reports, the States sought a fortnight to file their replies, the petitioners, including academic Apoorvanand, the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra, and others, requested the case be heard next week as the issue was time-sensitive.

They argued that the governments’ mandate to provide the names of owners of food stalls amounted to subtle discrimination, signalling to the pilgrims which establishments to avoid.

“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 the Supreme Court… Although the eateries are legally obliged to obtain licenses and display them, they need to be displayed only inside the premises,” the petitioners said.

The petitioners are reported to be apprehensive that the government's decision would cause communal tensions, and may even turn into mob violence, especially against stall owners from minority communities.