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This is an archive article published on November 12, 2024
Not one street in Mumbai spared of illegal hawkers: Bombay HC to BMC, state
The court said that the BMC and state police cannot keep passing the buck or blame each other to keep streets free of illegal hawkers.
This came after the civic body submitted that while they remove unauthorised hawkers, it was the duty of the police to keep them off the footpaths.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday, while asking the BMC and state government to take strict action against the “menace” of illegal hawkers, remarked that not a single lane or area in the city is spared of the same.
After the state lawyer said that there was limited police force available to take action against unauthorised hawkers due to election duties for upcoming assembly polls, the bench questioned why it failed to take sufficient steps in the last five years.
“The problem is routine. People can’t enter shops. Despite the police being there, they continue to hawk… There is nothing left in this city… not a single area is spared, no lane is spared,” a bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Kamal R Khata orally remarked while hearing suo motu plea initiated by it in February last year related to unauthorised hawkers/stalls in the city.
The court said that the BMC and state police cannot keep passing the buck or blame each other to keep streets free of illegal hawkers. This came after the civic body submitted that while they remove unauthorised hawkers, it was the duty of the police to keep them off the footpaths.
The state lawyer however said that sufficient personnel and protection is provided as and when the civic body required it and due cooperation was extended for the same.
Last month, the HC had observed that “it was utterly painful and troubling” that “despite passing various orders over a period of years and bulky pleadings filed by government agencies, the unauthorised hawkers still continue to show remarkable existence in the entire city or state”.
It added that “disturbingly”, the same is the case “even on all 20 sites (most congested areas earmarked by it as a test case) assured to be hawker-free by BMC”. After BMC and state authorities assured it of sufficient action against unauthorised hawkers, the bench posted further hearing to December 12.
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