Bombay HC slams state police inaction against illegal hawkers in Mumbai

The court directed the deployment of additional forces to ensure the permanent removal of unauthorised hawkers from the streets

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday rapped the state police for failing to take action against illegal hawkers in the city in violation of earlier court orders and directed them to cooperate with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to remove unauthorised hawkers on the streets.

Hawkers at Vile Parle Market. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

“There are no streets, hawkers have completely taken over,” the bench led by justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata said while referring to the police and BMC’s failure to address illegal hawking in the western suburbs including areas around Malad, Kandivali and Borivali stations.

Advocates representing the hawkers told the court that despite its directions issued earlier regarding the constitution of a town vending committee to resolve hawkers’ licensing issues, elections to the committee were still pending. This was inconveniencing authorised hawkers and leading to allegations of encroachment against them; some hawkers had also been evicted for the same reason, they said, drawing attention to the violation of hawkers’ fundamental rights in the process.

To this, the court said, “If hawkers have fundamental rights, don’t common people have the same rights too? Public roads cannot be turned into hawking zones.”

The advocate representing the Bombay Bar Association underscored serious lapses on the part of BMC officials, claiming licences were not verified systematically and roads were full of hawkers despite two court orders directing their removal.

“BMC officials act only when they want to. They clean up an area only when a VVIP visits, but this is temporary. There is no permanent solution,” he noted.

The court reprimanded the state for failing to tackle hawkers and directed the deployment of additional forces to ensure the permanent removal of unauthorised hawkers from the streets. Police officers were instructed to inspect identified locations and issue affidavits mentioning details of licensed hawkers.