Rakesh Gupta v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present petition has been filed by the Petitioner under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, inter alia, seeking directions to the Respondents to allow the Petitioner to peacefully vend from the vending site i.e., on the open space, Jagdamba Road, Opposite TA-1, near Okhla Estate Marg, Central Zone, Ward S-82, New Delhi.

3. The Petitioner is a street vendor who has been issued a provisional Certificate of Vending (hereinafter, ‘CoV’) bearing URI No. 7016661 under the category of ‘Food/snack with gas cylinder/fire’ for Central Zone, Ward S-82. The copy of the provisional CoV of the Petitioner has been placed on record.

4. As per the Petitioner, his vend is a mobile cart. The photograph of Petitioner’s vend has been placed on record and the same is set out below:

5. Ld. Counsel for the Petitioner submits that he is facing continuous harassment from the concerned officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (hereinafter, ‘MCD’) and the Delhi police, who are repeatedly obstructing Petitioner’s vending activities.

6. Ms. Meherunnisa A. Jaitley, ld. Counsel for the MCD has placed on record certain photographs. The same are taken on record and are extracted below:

7. The submission of ld. Counsel for the MCD is that the Petitioner is occupying more space than permitted, and is also not maintaining proper hygiene and cleanliness around the vend.

8. The Court has considered the matter and perused the records. There is no doubt that the photographs produced by the ld. Counsel for the MCD reveal that cleanliness is not being maintained by the Petitioner, though the photographs placed on record by the Petitioner would indicate the contrary.

9. It is, therefore, clear that the Petitioner is required to maintain proper hygiene and cleanliness in and around the vending cart, particularly considering that he is selling food items.

10. After considering the provisional CoV of the Petitioner, as also the photographs, this Court is inclined to pass the following directions as have been passed in similar matters recently, i.e., in W.P.(C) 15082/2025 titled ‘Rajendra Singh v. Commissioner of Police and Ors.’ vide order dated 2nd February, 2026, W.P.(C) 19391/2025 titled ‘Mohd Badruddin v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi & Ors.’ vide order dated 8th January, 2026 and in W.P. (C) 1609/2026 titled ‘Rihana v. MCD & Ors.’ vide order dated 5th February,

2026.

11. In this background, the present petition is disposed of in the following terms: a) The Petitioner shall be permitted to operate his vend, but shall use a gas cylinder which does not occupy too much space. It is made clear that only a small sized gas cylinder for heating of food and snacks shall be used by the Petitioner; b) The Petitioner shall restrict himself to a particular space, where he is operating from, and shall not extend/encroach to the pedestrian areas or cause obstruction in movement of pedestrians; c) The Petitioner shall also be obliged to maintain cleanliness and hygiene around the vend, which he is working from and shall ensure the presence of a dustbin near the vend; d) Subject to the above, Condition No.11 in the CoV shall not apply to the Petitioner. The Petitioner shall comply with all the other conditions in the CoV. e) It shall be ensured that the Petitioner shall not create any third party interest in this provisional CoV and there shall be a bar on subletting or any handing over possession to any third party. f) No permanent or temporary construction shall also be erected by the Petitioner.

12. The concerned authorities are free to regularly supervise in the area and ensure that cleanliness is maintained around the vending cart.

13. The Petitioner shall also ensure that he shall not occupy more space than permitted.

14. The above stated directions shall be subject to any plan which the Town Vending Committee–II may be coming up with in terms of Section 21 of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 and no vested rights shall be claimed.