private places

A street vendor / hawker is a person who offers goods for sale to the public at large without having a permanent structure / place for his activities. Some street vendors / hawkers are stationary in the sense that they occupy space on the pavements or other public / private places while others are mobile in the sense that they move from place to place carrying their wares on push carts or in baskets on their heads.= For facilitating implementation of the 2009 Policy, we issue the following directions: i) Within one month from the date of receipt of copy of this order, the Chief Secretaries of the State Governments and Administrators of the Union Territories shall issue necessary instructions/directions to the concerned department(s) to ensure that the Town Vending Committee is constituted at city / town level in accordance with the provisions contained in the 2009 Policy. For the cities and towns having large municipal areas, more than one Town Vending Committee may be constituted. (ii) Each Town Vending Committee shall consist of representatives of various organizations and street vendors / hawkers. 30% of the representatives from the category of street vendors / hawkers shall be women. iii) The representatives of various organizations and street vendors / hawkers shall be chosen by the Town Vending Committee by adopting a fair and transparent mechanism. iv) The task of constituting the Town Vending Committees shall be completed within two months of the issue of instructions by the Chief Secretaries of the State and the Administrators of the Union Territories. v) The Town Vending Committees shall function strictly in accordance with the 2009 Policy and the decisions taken by it shall be notified in the print and electronic media within next one week. vi) The Town Vending Committees shall be free to divide the municipal areas in vending / hawking zones and sub-zones and for this purpose they may take assistance of experts in the field. While undertaking this exercise, the Town Vending Committees constituted for the cities of Delhi and Mumbai shall take into consideration the work already undertaken by the municipal authorities in furtherance of the directions given by this Court. The municipal authorities shall also take action in terms of Paragraph 4.2(b) and (c). vii) All street vendors / hawkers shall be registered in accordance with paragraph 4.5.4 of the 2009 Policy. Once registered, the street vendor / hawker, shall be entitled to operate in the area specified by the Town Vending Committee. viii) The process of registration must be completed by the municipal authorities across the country within four months of the receipt of the direction by the Chief Secretaries of the States and Administrators of the Union Territories. ix) The State Governments / Administration of the Union Territories and municipal and local authorities shall take all the steps necessary for achieving the objectives set out in the 2009 Policy. x) The Town Vending Committee shall meet every month and ensure implementation of the relevant provisions of the 2009 Policy and, in particular, paragraph 4.5.1 (b) and (c). xi) Physically challenged who were allowed to operate PCO’s in terms of the judgment reported in (2009) 17 SCC 231 shall be allowed to continue to run their stalls and sell other goods because running of PCOs. is no longer viable. Those who were allowed to run Aarey/Sarita shall be allowed to continue to operate their stalls. xii) The State Governments, the Administration of the Union Territories and municipal authorities shall be free to amend the legislative provisions and/or delegated legislation to bring them in tune with the 2009 Policy. If there remains any conflict between the 2009 Policy and the municipal laws, insofar as they relate to street vendors/hawkers, then the 2009 Policy shall prevail. xiii) Henceforth, the parties shall be free to approach the jurisdictional High Courts for redressal of their grievance and the direction, if any, given by this Court in the earlier judgments / orders shall not impede disposal of the cases which may be filed by the aggrieved parties. xiv) The Chief Justices of the High Courts are requested to nominate a Bench to deal with the cases filed for implementation of the 2009 Policy and disputes arising out of its implementation. The concerned Bench shall regularly monitor implementation of the 2009 Policy and the law which may be enacted by the Parliament. xv) All the existing street vendors / hawkers operating across the country shall be allowed to operate till the exercise of registration and creation of vending / hawking zones is completed in terms of the 2009 Policy. Once that exercise is completed, they shall be entitled to operate only in accordance with the orders/directions of the concerned Town Vending Committee. xvi) The provisions of the 2009 Policy and the directions contained hereinabove shall apply to all the municipal areas in the country. 17. The aforesaid directions shall remain operative till an appropriate legislation is enacted by Parliament or any other competent legislature and is brought into force. 18. The parties, whose applications have remained pending before this Court, shall be free to institute appropriate proceedings in the jurisdictional High Court. If so advised, the aggrieved person shall be free to file petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. 19. All the appeals and I.As are disposed of in the manner indicated above. 20. The Registry is directed to send copies of this order to the Chief Secretaries of all the States, Administrators of the Union Territories and Registrar Generals / Registrars (Judicial) of all the High Courts, who shall place the order before the Chief Justice for consideration and necessary directions.

published in http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/imgst.aspx?filename=40757 1 REPORTABLE IN THE SUPRME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeal Nos.4156-4157 of 2002 WITH Civil Appeal Nos. 4161-4162 of 2002 AND Civil Appeal Nos. 4175-4176 of 2002 AND I.A.Nos.266-285, 288-289, 294-299, 304-309, 312-321 & 324-335 IN Civil Appeal Nos.4156-4157 of 2002 AND I.A.Nos.7-8 in Civil Appeal Nos. 4161-4162 of 2002 … Continue reading →