Plea For Effective Implementation Of Street Vendors Act: Uttarakhand High Court Passes Interim Order To Prevent Illegal Evictions

The state has been asked to file its counter-affidavit in six weeks and the matter has been posted on 16^th February, 2022.

Grounds

The petitioner, National Hawkers Federation, an association of street vendors across India, has contended that the right to livelihood embedded in Article 21 of the Constitution and the right to carry on any trade or business in Article 19(1) (g) have been blatantly and systematically violated by respondent authorities including Municipal Corporations in the State of Uttarakhand.

The petition states that street vendors in Nainital and across the state are harassed by frequent inspections wherein their items are confiscated illegally without giving any acknowledgement or seizure receipt as envisaged under the Act and its Rules.

The petitioner also added that the confiscated articles are destroyed by the Municipal authorities, depriving the street vendors of their right to livelihood as underscored in Olga Tellis & Ors. v. Bombay Municipal Corporation & Ors., 1986 AIR 180 & Sodan Singh v. Delhi Municipal Corporation (1989).

Regarding non-implementation of the Act, the petitioner stated that the survey of street vendors as mandated by Section 3(1) of the SV Act, 2014 has not yet been carried out across the State. According to the said section, the town vending committee (TVC) is required to carry out a survey of all existing street vendors at least once every five years. The street vendors that come within the ambit of Section 2 (1) of the 2014 Act are entitled to obtain a certificate of vending under Section 4 of the Act, if they carry on their business within the parameters prescribed by Section 5, submitted the petitioner.

Relying on a direction issued by the Secretary of Central Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to all Chief Secretaries in January 2021, the petitioner contends that the respondents cannot relocate the street vendors without following the process envisaged in the Act and without express permission from Town Vending Committee (TVC).

Alleging contravention of Section 3 (3) of the Act, the petitioner federation argues that eviction, relocation and confiscation of articles without a survey of street vendors being carried out by TVC is illegal. Further, Section 27 of the Act bars interference from Police in the lawful activities carried out by a street vendor who has a certificate of vending.

The petitioner federation relied on Maqbool Ahmed v. South Delhi Municipal Corporation (2014) to bolster the position that Section 3(3) of the Act prevents eviction until the survey of existing street vendors is undertaken and certificates of vending are issued to them. The petitioner argued that State's inaction in constituting TVCs and conducting surveys cannot be held against the street vending activities carried out by members of the federation.

Based on the above grounds, the petitioner prayed for effective implementation of Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood & Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, The Uttarakhand Street Vendor (Protection of Livelihood & Regulation of Street Vending) Rules, 2016 and Street Vendor ( Protection of Livelihood & Regulation of Street Vending) Scheme, 2020. The federation also seeks relief in terms of declaring the current TVCs as temporary ones for the purpose of conducting survey of street vendors. Afterwards, it is prayed that elections be conducted to TVCs within a stipulated time.

It also seeks directions for issuance of fresh vending certificates and identity cards as well as the cancelling of already issued certificates, allotment of vending areas and temporary licenses since it was not done by elected TVCs. The petition also states that records, including acknowledgement slips and prior notices issued if any, on confiscation and destruction of goods owned by street vendors must be produced, examined and declared illegal if found to be in non-consonance with the provisions of the Act & Rules.

Background

In 2018, Nainital Municipality had allotted shops to a few street vendors in a meeting presided by ADM, allegedly in contravention to the procedure laid down in SV Act, 2014. In April, 2019, some of the street vendors sent a representation to Kumaon Division Commissioner against the prohibition imposed by Nainital Municipality on selling certain food items like Maggi, Tea and Coffee. The representation was forwarded to DM, Nainital to take appropriate action.

In August, 2020 temporary licenses were issued to some street vendors for a year by Nainital Municipality which the petitioner alleges to be outside the ambit of the SV Act since the appropriate authority to issue a certificate of vending is Town Vending Committee (TVC).

It was also submitted that police administration and Nainital Municipality, under the orders of the Sub Divisional Magistrate, has repeatedly seized and confiscated the articles of street vendors without specifying a location for them to relocate nor following the mandate of prior notice of 30 days as stipulated under S.18(3) of the SV Act.

According to the petitioner, the confiscated articles including carts, cots, utensils etc. were either destroyed or sold off to rag pickers, even when the street vendors were suffering financially in the clutches of pandemic. The petitioner also submitted that fines were imposed on street vendors under Uttarakhand Anti Littering and Anti Spitting Act, 2016. It was submitted that such imposition of fines is a violation of Section 33 of the SV Act which gives an overriding effect to the SV Act.

Even after repeated representations given to the respondent authorities over many years, no action has been taken to alleviate the rights violations of the street vendors which prompted the federation to file the current writ petition, submitted the counsel.

Advocate Snigdha Tiwari appeared for the petitioner. Additional Chief Standing Counsel Pradeep Joshi appeared for the State of Uttarakhand. Senior counsel D.S. Patni, assisted by Advocate B.S. Bisht, represented the Ministry of Housing & Urban Development, Government of India.

Case Title: National Hawker Federation v. State of Uttarakhand & Ors.

Case No: W.P (PIL) No. 216/ 2021

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