Are You Telling Us The City Must Get Rid Of Its Poor? Bombay High Court Refuses To Club Issue Of Homelessness With Illegal Hawking

A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale however did not pass a substantive order on the Bombay Bar Association’s Intervention Application and asked them to file a separate PIL instead.

The court observed the suo motu PIL it was seized with was regarding “encroachment on public access ways and footpaths” by commercial illegal hawkers, distinct from the present case.

“We do not suggest that the issues in the IA should not be addressed because they are trivial. In no city in the world are the problems of homeless and of shelters [unimportant]...but each city has to probably to deal with this in a manner best suited to that city. All that we can do in IA is to permit petitioners to file it as a separate writ petition for PIL and then obtain necessary directions from the CJ on administrative side. We therefore make no orders on this IA”

During the hearing Senior Advocate Milind Sathe for the BBA sought action against the homeless occupying the footpath on Flora Fountain right opposite the Bombay High Court. He submitted photographs to support his argument.

At the outset Justice Patel said the problem was different from what the bench was already dealing with. He anticipated BMC’s response to a complaint would be action must be taken by the police. “You want them thrown out of the footpath. There are people from all parts of the country?" Justice Patel asked nonetheless.

“This is the story of Mumbai. All we are saying someone has to take action” Sathe responded.

“Are you telling us now that the city must get rid of its poor? The problem of the homelessness is a global problem. It exists in New York, Washington, Paris. At least don’t have that kind of weather.”

Justice Patel added that the issue of homelessness may not be the Association’s concern but it was definitely the court’s concern.

“It may not be your concern it is our concern. They are human beings, Mr. Sathe. They may be less fortunate but they are human beings and that gives them as much standing in our court as it does the Bar Association,” Justice Patel added.

Senior advocate Sathe responded that they just wanted a solution and suggested that just like Delhi even Mumbai could have night shelters. I am not saying flora fountain is more sacrosanct or anything, he said.

“Now that we can ask them to consider,” came the response for night shelters.

However, the court said it wouldn’t be appropriate to club the hawker licencing issue the court was seized with along with the problem of homelessness. The counsel clarified that it had also issued letters to the police and BMC.

“There is an interim application filed in the suo motu petition. This seems to complain about the persons using the footpaths and sidewalks around fountain area. Specifically there is no complaint yet about construction, but these persons from the photos are poor people using the footpath as a place to sleep. There are many dimensions to the issue presented. We do not think it would be appropriate to list them all together, the court said granting liberty.”