The court referred to the Elphinstone Road stampede, in which 23 people lost their lives, to highlight the problem posed by vending in non-hawking zones
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday held illegal any form of hawking in non-hawking zones in the city, restricting the make-shift businesses to 221 roads approved by the Supreme Court in 2009.
A division bench of Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice M S Karnik, while rejecting a bunch of petitions challenging the action of fines and prosecution against hawkers by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), said, "If the contention of the petitioner, that there be no non-vending zones is accepted, it will create chaos in all cities. If the arguments are accepted, then there will be no regulations till rules under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending), act is framed."
The petitions argued that after the Act came into force in 2014, non-vending zones have ceased to exist and all hawkers, if they were carrying on such activities as on May 1, 2014, are entitled to carry out their activities anywhere in the city.
Appearing for the corporation, senior advocate Anil Sakhare and advocate Joel Carlos opposed the plea saying that till vending zones are notified, hawking is permitted on roads approved in the Supreme Court's 2009 Ekta Hawkers Union judgment.
The court referred to the Elphinstone Road stampede, in which 23 people lost their lives, to highlight the problem posed by vending in non-hawking zones. It said, "The presence of large number of hawkers on Foot Over Bridge is said to be one of the major contributing factor in the said mishap," the Bench said.
The court reiterated the view taken by the Supreme Court that hawking is banned within 100 meters from a place of worship, educational institutions and hospitals; and within 150 meters from any municipal or other markets or from railway stations. However, in case of holy shrines, vending is limited to articles which are to be offered at the site, such like flowers, sandalwood, candles, agarbattis, coconuts, etc.
The court also set aside a state government resolution dated January 9, by which the Town Vending Committee (TVC) can be constituted without the representation of street vendors. It has asked the corporation and municipal councils to constitute TVCs within six months.
In case of Mumbai, where the corporation has conducted a survey of street vendors as per the Hawkers' Policy, it is to be held as the first survey, and other corporations and councils have been told to adopt BMC's procedure for survey of street vendors.
On the issue of representation of street vendors in the TVC in areas where the panel is not formed, corporations and municipal councils have been asked to hold elections among registered vendors to select a representative and accordingly carry out the survey. They will also have to declare the voters list three months before the elections.
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