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HIGH COURT OF DELHI
JUDGMENT
REHRI PATRI EKTA MANCH ..... Petitioner
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioner : Mr. Krishna Gopal Mishra & Mr. Lokesh Pant, Advocates.
For the Respondents : Ms. Tajinder Virdi, Standing Counsel for MCD (through video-conferencing)
Mr. Divyam Nandrajog, Panel Counsel GNCTD with Mr. Jatin Dua, Advocate.
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANISH DAYAL
1. The present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 1950, has been instituted by petitioner Association, praying as follows:- “In the facts and circumstances stated herein above, it is Most Respectfully prayed that this Hon'ble Court may graciously be pleased to:
1. Pass an Order directing the respondents to ensure that the petitioner Street Vendors be allowed to peacefully vend in terms of the vending certificate issued to them, on their vending sites i.e., On Pavement at Lal Quila Metro Gate No. 1, Old Lajpat Rai market from opposite Shop No. I to shop no. 848 near dewan Hall Road City SP Zone, Ward 84 N, Delhi without any hindrance being caused by any public official.
2. Pass an order directing the respondents, their officials, their agents etc. be restrained from harassing the petitioners from peacefully vending at their vending sites.”
2. Issue notice.
3. Ms. Tajinder Virdi, learned Standing Counsel, accepts notice on behalf of the MCD and Mr. Divyam Nandrajog, learned counsel accepts notice on behalf of the GNCTD.
4. Learned Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of the MCD, has invited our attention to the terms and conditions, permitting the petitioners to vend.
5. For the sake of completeness, the said terms and conditions attached to the Certificates of Vending, are reproduced herein below:-
6. In terms of the Certificates of Vending issued to the vendors of the petitioner Association, it is clearly stipulated that they cannot vend from any particular location, contrary to the express terms of Clause no. ‘11’, of the said Certificates of Vending. It is further observed that since the Town Vending Committee (TVC) is yet to fix a time limit, providing for a period, during which a vendor can vend from any particular spot, the stipulation of 30 minutes time, contained in the said clause, is binding on the said vendors, at this stage. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner Association states, that they do not pray for the relief for the said vendors, running their business from any particular vending site, within the zone where they have been permitted to vend by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and further, the limited relief that is prayed for, is to permit the said vendors to vend strictly, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Certificates of Vending, issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
7. It is an admitted position that the Town Vending Committee (TVC), has in terms of the directions issued by this Court, from time to time, as well as, in terms of the mandate of Section 3 (Survey of street vendors and protection from eviction on relocation) and Section 4 (Issue of certificate of vending) of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, carried out a survey, in some of the areas under the MCD zones; pursuant to which, the following vendors have been issued certificates of vending, which are annexed as Annexure P- 3, to the present writ petition.
NAME OF THE STREET VENDORS DATE OF ISSUE OF VENDING CERTIFICATE PLACE OF VENDING VENDING CERTIFICATE (URI) CATEGORY 1 Sumitra Devi 12.04.2022 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 1338043 Others
3 Parvesh Kumar Yadav 07.11.2021 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 9566688 Others 4 Lalit Kumar Yadav 31.01.2022 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 7790590 Others 5 Saurabh Srivastava 28.02.2022 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 8549446 Others
6 Chetram 07.11.2021 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 7300550 Others 7 Vinod 07.11.2021 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 2614762 Others 8 Manish Gupta Zone, Ward-84-N 8342081 Others 9 Amresh Yadav 28.02.2022 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 8882177 Others 10 Hemant Kumar Zone, 4551686 Others Ward-84-N
12 Geeta Devi 31.01.2022 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 9877171 Fresh Fruits/ Vegetables/ Perishables 13 Jaiprakash Sudhish Kumar Zone, Ward-84-N 1290360 Others 14 Sonali Thakur Zone, Ward-84-N 3427567 Others 15 Krishna Devi Zone, Ward-84-N 3256743 Others 16 Jaikishan Dass Bachani Zone, Ward-84-N 2046273 Others
8. In view of the foregoing, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner Association, categorically limits the relief in the present writ petition, to a direction to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, to permit the above-mentioned street vendors, to continue to vend within City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N, strictly and scrupulously in compliance with the terms and conditions of the said certificate of vending, particularly Clause no. 11, and in accordance with law.
9. In view of the above, the present writ petition is partly allowed; and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is directed to permit the abovementioned street vendors, to vend within City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N, subject to the terms and conditions of their certificates of vending, without any let or hindrance.
10. Needless to state that the above-mentioned vendors will be at liberty to articulate any difficulties faced by them, before the appropriate authorities, in accordance with law, in relation to the certificates of vending, insofar as it employs the expression „Others‟.
11. These directions have been passed only in respect of those vendors, whose Certificate of Vending (COV) have been appended with the present petition.
12. No further directions are prayed for.
13. With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of accordingly. Pending application also stands disposed of.
14. A copy of this judgment be uploaded on the website of this Court forthwith.
SIDDHARTH MRIDUL (JUDGE)
ANISH DAYAL (JUDGE) OCTOBER 17, 2023