Citizens Or Hawkers, No One Must Suffer: Bombay High Court Directs BMC To Take Pro-Active Steps To Address Menace Of Illegal Hawking

The Bombay High Court while asking the Maharashtra government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take 'proactive' measures to curb the menace of illegal hawkers, said no one must 'suffer' be it citizens, authorised hawkers or even unauthorised hawkers.

A division bench of Justices Mahesh Sonak and Kamal Khata while hearing a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition regarding the menace of illegal hawkers, on Monday, said the problem is 'mammoth' and thus only pro-active measures will help the authorities in curbing the same.

"Time and place management is the key solution to end this menace. You need to only control the time and give a dedicated space. It is happening everywhere around the world that hawkers are continuing with their work without harassing citizens. Same thing can happen here," Justice Khata observed.

"The problem is mammoth and you need to take proactive measures to control this issue," Justice Sonak weighed in.

During the hearing, senior advocate Gayatri Singh representing a union of authorised hawkers sought intervention on the ground that her clients, despite being licensed hawkers, were also facing action from the civic authorities.

"We understand that you (authorised hawkers) have your own set of difficulties. Whoever has permission should be given full protection. We are not concerned only with the eligible hawkers but also the ones who do not have a licence. We believe even they must get licenses so that they can proceed with their business but in a proper manner..." Justice Khata said.

The judges further told senior advocate Anil Singh appearing for the BMC and Government Pleader Poornima Kantharia for the State, to furnish copies of their affidavits spelling out the action taken against illegal hawkers and the action plan to curb the menace, to advocate Gayatri Singh.

"We only want citizens should not suffer... The people walking on streets should not suffer and also the hawkers, both authorised and unauthorised ones too should not suffer," the judges underlined while adjourning the matter till Thursday.

Notably, in a hearing conducted on July 22, the bench had come down heavily on the BMC and the State for their inaction against illegal hawkers in the city.

"What is this going on? When will you bring a solution to this recurring problem? We passed an order last month yet you are not ready with your affidavits. And then all this continues. This is sheer harassment of citizens... People who want to abide by the law are being harassed and made to suffer. The entire State Machinery seems to have collapsed. We cannot expect citizens to keep coming to the courts daily... What you want, should these citizens come and sit in this court and work from here because their premises are encroached upon," a visibly agitated Justice Khata had orally remarked.