Mumbai Takes First Step To Reclaim Its Footpaths, Bans Hawkers In Many Parts Of City

The Bombay high court on Wednesday laid down the law for hawkers in Mumbai. Hawking will be permitted only in 221 designated hawking zones and barred near schools, hospitals, places of worship, railway stations and on foot over-bridges (FOBs). A division bench of Justices Bhushan Gavai and Makarand Karnik rejected claims by hawkers' associations that hawking should be allowed anywhere in the city "since the government hasn't framed rules on hawking or designated vending zones".

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"While considering the right of hawkers to conduct their vending business on streets, we will have to balance the right of pedestrians to walk on footpaths and citizens to use roads for plying their vehicles," said the judges.

If the hawkers' contention that they are free to hawk anywhere in the city and the authorities should be issued a judicial order not to come in their way is accepted, there will be chaos in cities, the court said, referring to the September 29 Elphinstone Road stampede, in which 23 people died.

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The court was hearing petitions filed by hawkers' unions and Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam challenging the legality of hawker- eviction drives currently being conducted by the BMC and other authorities.

"Imagine a situation wherein the entrance of a hospital is flooded with hawkers, thereby preventing access of a serious patient to the hospital. Imagine a situation wherein fire breaks out in a busy locality and on account of encroachment of hawkers on the roads, the fire brigade is not in a position to reach the spot. Obviously, the legislative intent could not have been to permit all this," the judges said. "(So) the contention (of hawkers) is without merit and deserves to be rejected."

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Senior advocate B A Desai and advocate Vishal Kanade, counsels for the petitioners, contended that the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act protect all hawkers who have been carrying out business as of the date the law was enacted (May 1, 2014). The state was yet to frame rules for hawking under the special law, the lawyers argued, adding that the hawking zones that were designated prior to 2014 were no longer valid.

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Senior advocate A Y Sakhare, counsel for the BMC, opposed the plea and said the corporation could regulate hawking. The court agreed and said that if the view of the hawkers was accepted the authorities would be powerless to take action "even if the business of hawking causes a threat to the free flow of traffic and a threat to the security of citizens". The court said that till town vending committees are set up to regulate hawking, hawkers can operate only in hawking zones approved by the Supreme Court in 2009.

The bench reiterated that as per earlier orders, "no hawking would be permitted within 100 metres from any place of worship, holy shrine, educational institutions and hospitals or within 150 metres from any municipal or other markets or from any railway station. It is also directed that no hawking would be permitted on footbridges and over-bridges".

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The high court permitted the survey and data collected by the BMC to be the basis for conducting elections for the 40% seats reserved for representatives of hawkers in the new town vending committees. As per the BMC's survey, 99,435 hawkers have been operating in Mumbai prior to May 2014. With regard to cities where town vending committees have not been set up, the court directed corporations to constitute the panels as per the 2009 policy within six weeks and conduct hawker surveys within three months thereafter. The court struck down a government resolution that had permitted the setting up of town vending committees without hawkers' representation.