Initiate process of preparing City Plan as per Street Vendors Act: Delhi High Court to NDMC, govt

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed local authorities including the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) as well as the Delhi government to initiate the process of preparing a City Plan as per Section 21 of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 (New Delhi Traders Association v. NDMC)..A Division Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Amit Bansal ordered,"The local authorities like NDMC along with the Delhi government should initiate the process of preparing a plan as per Section 21 of the Act. The steps taken by them in this regard should be placed before the Court. The officers present today before the Court are no longer required to be present. The orders passed by us will be implemented."The Court also expressed its displeasure at the non-compliance with its earlier orders."Despite declaring these as 'no-hawking' and 'no-squatting' zones, these areas are still being used. This can absolutely not be permitted. Please comply with our last order," the Court said. .The Court was hearing nearly two dozen petitions filed by various traders and street vendors associations from Delhi's Connaught Place, Nehru Place and Sarojini Nagar markets challenging the provisions of the Street Vendors Act..Upon being apprised by Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Delhi government, of the government's intention to come up with a blueprint for the proper implementation of the Street Vendors Scheme in a holistic manner, the Court observed,"This is really an aspect of city planning and town planning. Take people from IIT, DDA, School of Architecture. Let's come up with some kind of plan that balances the intensity of the population vis-a-vis the population of squatters. Please start the exercise of preparing a plan."Mehra responded by promising to place a blueprint of the same before the Court before November 18, 2021..The Court directed the local authorities and the government to come up with a plan in accordance with Section 21 of the Street Vendors Act, which mandates the following:(1) Every local authority shall, in consultation with the planning authority and on the recommendations of the Town Vending Committee, once in every five years, prepare a plan to promote the vocation of street vendors covering the matters contained in the First Schedule.(2) The plan for street vending prepared by the local authority shall be submitted to the appropriate Government for approval and that Government shall, before notifying the plan, determine the norms applicable to the street vendors..Mehra also submitted that Delhi Police officials are physically present in Court today, pursuant to the Bench's earlier directions. The Court was also informed that NDMC had filed its status report. Thereafter, he urged the Court to allow the present position to continue and submitted,"Let the present position continue. Both the police and the NDMC have complied fully with the Court's orders. We are working in a tandem on a daily basis. The Delhi Police has no objection to this. Let this mechanism continue for a few days. Milord is looking at this on a daily basis. As of today the mechanism is working beautifully. Why then do orders after orders in interim need to be passed?"To this the Court said,"Correct, but we also want to properly balance the rights of all the people. Mr. Mehra you must sit down with the Act as it exists but please do it properly. A couple of things struck us like how there was no plan. Secondly, the way the TVCs have been constituted.".Appearing on behalf of one of the vendors, Advocate Kamlesh Kumar Mishra interjected at this point to say,"Milord has heard the lawyers and the TVC, but not the street vendors."Vehemently denying this allegation the Court said,"That's incorrect. On October 25, a lot of hue and cry was raised. We had a long hearing including several judgments shown to us...You were probably not present then."The Court went on to observe,"We know that street vending is an age old activity in India. Most people depend on these vendors. However, we don't want it to become a menace. If we were to implement the provisions, how many members could be accommodated in CP? No right is absolute and people are coming to us with independent cases."It ultimately directed that a City Plan must be prepared under Section 21 of the Street Vendors Act and listed the matter for hearing on November 17..On the last date of hearing, the Court had said that there are conflicting fundamental rights involved in the adjudication of cases regarding the Street Vendors Act. Justice Sanghi had also remarked that it was the Court's endeavour to see whether the law was being implemented.Previously, the Court had also expressed its wish to strike a balance between the competing interests of shopkeepers and street vendors."We are aware that hawking provides employment to billions, particularly lower strata of society and people can buy goods at lower prices. There can't be two views. There has to be a balance. Rights of vendors should not be looked at while infringing on rights of shopkeepers who pay lakhs of rent for shops or people who want free access to market areas and a clean, hygienic area where they go to the market," the Court had remarked then..The Court had also stated that many of the Town Vending Committees (TVCs) are loaded with street vendors themselves. However, it was ultimately the administrators who must call the shots, the Court had added..Delhi High Court pulls up NDMC, Delhi Police for failure to remove illegal vendors from Connaught Place