'Prima Facie' BMC Has Failed To Control The Menace Of Illegal Hawkers: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday, while castigating the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for 'failing' to control the menace of illegal hawkers within Mumbai, said it will now have a 'pragmatic' approach to resolve this long pending issue.

A division bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata was irked to note that despite the 'tall claims' of the BMC in its earlier affidavits of identifying 20 sites across the city and keeping a vigil, the issue of hawkers continued.

The judges in the morning session, asked the civic officials present in the court, to ascertain the ground report existing as of today, outside the Bombay HC building, as one of the 20 sites identified by the BMC is the road just outside the HC (from CSMT Station to HC).

The officials and also the junior advocates of senior counsel Sharan Jagtiani, furnished some photographs, indicating the 'remarkable' presence of unauthorised hawkers on the streets just opposite to the High Court. The senior counsel represents Bombay Bar Association (BBA), which is an intervenor in the suo motu PIL related to the menace of illegal hawkers.

While the judges perused the photographs, senior counsel Anil Singh, representing the BMC, tried to show some other photographs. To this, Justice Gadkari said, "Mr Singh, it appears your officers are feigning ignorance to our orders or they do not understand simple and plain English. We specifically asked photos from Flora Fountain to Horniman Circle."

The judges then emphasised that despite detailed orders being passed from time-to-time and solemn statements made before the court by civic officials, the hawkers continue to harass citizens. 

"See Mr Singh, what we propose is, we will be pragmatic now and resolve the issue. We want your officers to keep a strict vigil on the road from Flora Fountain to Horniman Circle. Not single hawker should be there for 7 days. Person not having licence etc shall not be allowed to have any stall or anything. Any breach will be viewed seriously. You give us names of the officers so that we can hold them responsible for any breach," Justice Gadkari said.

The bench further said that the civic officials need to have 'sympathy' for its citizens and only then the issue of illegal hawkers will end.

"Or else there will be complete lawlessness, total lawlessness," Justice Khata remarked.

Further in its order, the bench recorded, "Despite passing various orders and bulky pleadings by the State agencies, the ultimate result is that the unauthorised hawkers still continue to show their remarkable presence at the 20 sites. It prima facie appears to us that the BMC is unable to control the unauthorised hawkers therefore the situation has arisen."

At this stage, Singh urged the bench to consider the fact that BMC has been taking all possible steps to remove hawkers but yet they return to the sites.

Irked over this submission, Justice Gadkari said, "Mr Singh, lets be blunt and tell us how many hawkers do you want to protect?"

The senior advocate, however, strongly objected to the remark of Justice Gadkari and clarified that the BMC has not been protecting anyone.

To this, Justice Gadkari quipped, "So Mr Singh, Are you (BMC) not a State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India? Is it not your duty to protect the rights of citizens under Article 21? It's not only the right to life but also the rights of the pedestrians. There is no space to walk where should the citizens go?"

In its order, the bench recorded that though solemn statements are made from time-to-time by the civic officials, they have not been complied with and as a result, hawkers continue to mark their remarkable presence on all the sites.

"We deem it appropriate Deputy Superintendent to monitor and implement the various orders passed by this Court from time-to-time and ensure no unauthorised hawker is present at the site (CSMT to HC)," the judges said.

Further, the bench considered the apprehension of the BMC that the officials, who may be keeping a vigil or removing the hawkers, might be obstructed from doing their work.

"We therefore, direct the Additional Commissioner of Police to depute necessary and adequate number of personnel for complying with our directions and so also to remove unauthorised hawkers," the judges said while adjourning the matter till November 7.