The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) informed the Bombay High Court (HC) on Tuesday, July 27, that during the period of June 2022 to May 2024, it had amassed nearly INR 5.14 crore through fines, merchandise auctions, and redemption fees imposed while pursuing legal action against unlicensed hawkers to clear their encroachments.
In response to the court's question about the measures taken against illegal hawkers over the previous two years, the BMC said that it had selected 20 of the busiest streets in the city as the civic body got a lot of complaints about unlawful hawkers from these areas. The city authorities added that ongoing monitoring of these sites during peak hours was finalised to guarantee that they remained free of unauthorised vendors. It claimed that in order to make sure that unlawful hawkers do not return to these locations, constant care was needed.
During a suo motu plea hearing concerning unlicensed hawkers/stalls in the city, the court noted that unlicensed vending was a "mammoth" problem and that authorities needed to act quickly to prevent anyone from being negatively impacted by the widespread problem. A division bench of Justices Mahesh S. Sonak and Kamal R. Khata harshly criticised the police and BMC on July 22 for the "collapse of machinery" in putting an end to unlicensed hawkers.
Senior attorney Anil Singh on behalf of BMC presented an affidavit from Anil Kate, superintendent of the company's license department, stating that security deposits of about 198 licence holders were forfeited for conditions violations between January 2023 and June 2024.
The BMC stated that following a joint meeting of civic and police authorities last month, the 20 busiest zones were marked out and maintained under constant observation. Churchgate, CSMT, Dadar, Andheri, Malad, Borivali, Ghatkopar, and Kurla railway stations, as well as the Colaba Causeway, Mohammed Ali Road, LBS Marg, Hill Road-Bandra (West), Linking Road, and Lalbaug, are among the neighbourhoods that fall under this category.
The affidavit further claimed that INR 2.44 crore was obtained through fines, auctions, and redemption fees as a result of 1,64,847 actions conducted between June 2022 and May 2023 against the encroachments of 1.64 lakh unlicensed hawkers. Through 1,72,523 actions against 1.72 lakh hawkers, the total collection increased to INR 2.7 crore between June 2023 and May 2024. The civic body did point out that it had projected fine revenues from unlicensed hawkers' encroachments to be INR 130.63 crore in 2022–2023 and INR 123.99 crore in 2023–2024.
All attempts will be made to complete the election process for Town Vending Committee (TVC) by the last day of August, 2024, the local authority further pledged. Senior attorney Gayatri Singh argued on behalf of the Hawkers' Union that the civic authority had ejected licenced hawkers who were allowed to trade in specific areas. The bench declared that complete protection had to be accorded to individuals who have authorisation.
Justice Khata said, we're worried about that. Everyone can use the roads. Nobody should suffer, including members of the public, store owners, and licensed street vendors. With licensed hawkers around, people should feel secure and should not feel insecure, as we made plain in our most recent orders. That is the case everywhere in the world.
Judge Sonak stated that things can be resolved if there are time constraints, time management, and place management in place. He then scheduled a follow-up hearing for August 1.
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