Bombay HC tells Mumbai civic body: ‘Show us you can crack down on hawkers’

Officials crack down on hawkers on DN Road following HC orders on Wednesday. Pic/Atul Kamble

The Bombay High Court, while hearing a suo motu PIL on Wednesday, on the issue of illegal hawking increasing in the city, directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to evict such vendors from the stretch between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Flora Fountain and monitor the situation for two weeks.

If the civic body's efforts prove successful, they can be replicated across the city, the court stated. The court also ordered the additional commissioner of police concerned to ensure armed police protection was provided to civic officials while they got rid of the hawkers. The PIL was heard by a division bench comprising Justice A S Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata.

During the hearing, the court emphasised that the removal of hawkers should be a continuous process, stating, "The BMC must remove them repeatedly if they return." The bench was critical of the civic body's previous efforts. Justice Gadkari passing a comment said, "Officials are intentionally ignoring earlier directives or failing to understand simple instructions… Tell us bluntly, how many hawkers do you want to protect or hawkers from which area do you want to protect?"

Before breaking for lunch, the court directed the BMC officers present to inspect the stretch between CSMT and Flora Fountain and submit a report on whether they were following the court's earlier orders concerning the removal of hawkers.

Civic officials crack down on hawkers on D N Road following the high court's orders

Justice Gadkari stated, "This is complete lawlessness. Despite multiple orders passed by the court and replies filed by the state agencies, the ultimate result is that the hawkers are still on the spot. The BMC is unable to control hawkers. Pedestrians have the right to walk on the footpaths. The BMC has not complied with our orders time and again."

A few hours later…

Shortly after the high court issued the orders, the BMC swung into action, seizing goods of hawkers who lacked licences. Initially, they were accompanied by police officers, but after some time the latter were seen leaving the civic officials to their own devices, in violation of the court's orders.

Police officers who accompanied civic officials during the crackdown. Pics/Atul Kamble

Parikshak Patil, an official from the BMC's encroachment department was heard requesting police officers to stay. In response to this, a police officer said he had somewhere else to be. Speaking in Marathi, the official said, "Tumhi tumchi karvayi kara, amhi amchi karvayi karayla jato [You do what you have to do, we are going to do what we have to do]."

Patil, the civic official, said, "I was present during the hearing on Wednesday and heard each and every word the judges said. That's why we requested the police officers to stay until our task was completed, but they left."

At some locations, hawkers were seen showing licenses issued by the BMC licensing department. The BMC officials seized some goods from some of these hawkers while leaving others untouched.

Explaining this, Patil said, "We cannot seize all the goods of licensed hawkers. These vendors are allowed to put up a 1x1-metre stall. We have seized whatever goods were outside this permitted space. Today, the licensing department officials will visit these stalls to check their licence again and issue an IR (inspection report). If the stall is found to be bigger than the area permitted, action will be taken against the stall owner."

During the hearing when the BMC counsel had raised the point of licensed hawkers, the bench stated, "We said not a single unlicensed hawker should be seen on the decided stretch. We have not passed any directives about licensed hawkers. Whatever and whoever is illegal should go."

Oct 23
Day hearing was held