State govt to reformulate hawking regulatory bill

The state government has decided to redraft the hawking regulatory bill for Mumbai, which got a state nod in 2010 and has been sent for President's assent. The decision to withdraw the bill was taken in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The state government has decided to redraft the hawking regulatory bill for Mumbai, which got a state nod in 2010 and has been sent for President's assent. The decision to withdraw the bill was taken in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

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The move was initiated after the central government, which was to give a nod to the legislation, asked the state government to dilute the rules related to punishment and fines levied on hawkers for not following rules.

The hawking policy, drawn by an expert panel comprising state officials, hawkers' union representatives and eminent citizens, made a clear distinction between legal and illegal hawkers, hawking and non-hawking zones, and licensing.

The Centre objected to the state making hawking in a non-hawking zone a cognisable offence, charging an "exorbitant" amount of Rs. 5,000 as fine and imprisonment.

The Centre's model bill was formulated as per the national hawking legislation, which is more hawker oriented, where the fine for offence is Rs. 200-500.

"The Centre has asked the state to make some changes. So there was a decision made to redraw the entire policy since it will need to come back to the cabinet and legislature instead of an amendment being made through an ordinance. The cabinet decided to withdraw the bill," said a senior cabinet minister after the meeting.

He said that while the bill only called for few amendments, several NCP ministers objected to the interference of the Central in state-drawn bills.

"They demanded that it should be withdrawn in totality so that any more suggestions of state planners could also be incorporated, which was agreed upon," the minister said. The urban development department will now redraw the bill.