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HIGH COURT OF DELHI
JUDGMENT
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioners : Mr. Aditya, Mr. Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, Mr. Kailash Jha, Mr. Bibhuti Bhushan Mishra, Mr. Anjani Kumar
Mishra & Mr. Dipak Raj, Advocates.
For the Respondents : Ms. Tajinder Virdi, Standing Counsel for MCD with
Ms. Preeti Giri, Ms. Chetna Dhudheria, Advocates for
MCD.
Mr. Laksh Khanna, Advocate for GNCTD.
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANISH DAYAL
CM APPL. 41834/2023 (Exemption) & CM APPL. 41835/2023
(Exemption)
1. Exemptions allowed, subject to just exceptions.
2. The applications are disposed of accordingly.
1. The present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 1950, has been instituted on behalf of the petitioners, praying as follows:- It is most respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to: a) Issue an appropriate Writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or directions thereby directing the respondents to ensure that the petitioners Street Vendors be allowed to peacefully vend in terms of the vending certificate issued to them, on their vending sites i.e., in Old Lajpat Rai Market, City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N, More Sarai Road and Deewan Hall Road, Delhi- 110006 without any hindrance being caused by any public official; b) Issue an appropriate Writ of mandamus or any other SHO, PS Kotwali to ensure that the street vendors of the petitioner association shall not be forcefully removed from their vending site; c) Issue an appropriate Writ of mandamus or any other respondents, their officials, their agents etc. be restrained from harassing the petitioners from peacefully vending at their vending sites even in the future; d) Issue an appropriate Writ of mandamus or any other respondent MCD to rectify the certificates of the Petitioners to ‘Stationery street vendors’ as details in the vending certificate issued to the petitioners. e) Pass an order for quashing and setting aside the terms of certificate of vending printed at the back side of the vending certificate to the extent which is not applicable to the stationary vendors; f) Pass such other or further order(s) as this Hon’ble Court deems fit under the facts and circumstances of the case.
AND FOR THE ACT OF KINDNESS THE PETITIONERS ARE DUTY BOUND SHALL EVER PRAY
2. Issue notice.
3. Ms. Tajinder Virdi, learned Standing Counsel, accepts notice on behalf of the MCD and Mr. Laksh Khanna, 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 petitioners, 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 petitioners, at this stage. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners states, that they do not pray for the relief of running their business from any particular vending site, within the zone where he has been permitted to vend by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and further, the limited relief that is prayed for, is to permit the petitioners 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 petitioners have been issued certificates of vending, which are annexed as Annexure P-4, to the present writ petition.
NAME OF THE STREET VENDORS DATE OF ISSUE OF VENDING CERTIFICATE PLACE OF VENDING VENDING CERTIFICATE (URI)
CATEGORY OF THE COV ISSUED
8. In view of the foregoing, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners, categorically limits the relief in the present writ petition, to a direction to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, to permit the abovementioned 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 petitioners/street vendors, to vend within City-SP Zone,
10 Vechan Thakur Rajkumar 07.11.2021 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 3643337 Food/Snack with 11 Md. Israil 07.11.2021 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 5542404 Food/Snack without gas cylinder/fire 12 Tajinder Singh 07.11.2021 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 3184333 Food/Snack with 13 Asgar Alam 07.11.2021 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 9159957 Food/Snack with
14. Masud 28.02.2022 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 8636061 Food/Snack with 15 Sekh Abdul Hussain 07.11.2021 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 5798864 Food/Snack with 16 Mohd. Alam 07.11.2021 City-SP Zone, Ward-84-N 2848866 Food/Snack without gas cylinder/fire Ward-84-N, subject to the terms and conditions of their certificates of vending, without any let or hindrance.
10. Needless to state that, insofar as prayer clause (d) is concerned, the petitioners will be at liberty to prosecute their representations, appended to this petition, before the appropriate authorities, in accordance with law, in relation to the certificate of vending.
11. No further directions are prayed for.
12. With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of accordingly.
13. A copy of this judgment be uploaded on the website of this Court forthwith.
SIDDHARTH MRIDUL (JUDGE)
ANISH DAYAL (JUDGE) AUGUST 16, 2023 Aanchal Click here to check corrigendum, if any