HC gives NMMC two weeks on hawking zones

A petition seeking the court’s interpretation of the February 1 order was filed on June 17 by four Navi Mumbai hawkers’ unions, representing 800 vendors, who are seeking allotment of permanent space in thetownship. The hawking zones can accommodate about 4,000 hawkers, on plots handed over by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) in 1995.

The hawker-menace first flared up in 1993, when residents of Sanjog housing society in Sector-9 of Vashi filed a petition in the Bombay High Court, against vendors who had encroached on pavements and public space in the vicinity.

In 1995, the court had ordered that the hawkers be given temporary status and shifted to hawking zones, for which CIDCO was to hand over plots to the NMMC. On taking possession of the plots that year, the NMMC issued an advertisement on December 10, 1996, inviting applications for hawking licences and allotment of space in the designated zones.

Till September 1998, over 15,000 applications were received, of which 600 hawkers were eventually issued licences. These 600 hawkers were allotted space admeasuring 4ftX 6ft in the hawking zones, most of them in Vashi and Nerul.

In October 1998, when the menace if illegal hawkerspeaked, pending applications were scrutinised within 20 days and 3,500 applicants eligible for licences were identified. Of these, 600 more vendors were issued licenses. However, the licences were issued on condition that they vendors would assume a mobile status, with no hawking permitted in the same zone for two consecutive days.

Upset by the precondition, the hawkers approached the court on January 15, 1999. On February 1, the court had ruled that the corporation should accommodate every single eligible hawker in the zones while allowing the NMMC to devise its own policy for an effective hawking system.

The hawkers approached the court once again, alleging contempt of court by the corporation, which had continued to retain the vendors’ mobile ststus. However, during a hearing on April 22, the court ruled that the corporation had conducted the licensing procedure within the framework of the courts’ order, and was not liable for contempt of court.

As a last ditch effort to get a permanent hawkingspace, the hawkers submitted a plea to the court on June 17, asking the court for its interpretation of its February 1 order.

During a hearing on November 15, the hawkers had also argued that granting permanent space would be practical and beneficial to both the vendors as well as the residents of Navi Mumbai. After hearing the NMMC, which said that granting permanent space would lead to its misuse, the court ordered the corporation to submit a report on the usage of the hawking zone by the existing 600 hawkers within 15 days.