Street Vendors Act arbitrary, traders say before Delhi HC
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday heard from the New Delhi Traders Association challenging the Delhi Street Vendors Act in the continuing matters pertaining to formulating a proper plan for street vending, during which Senior Advocate Sanjeev Ralli argued that the legislation does not bother to even mention the Delhi Master Plan or any zonal plan of any given area while setting down the procedure for vending on the streets.
The bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh had agreed to hear pleas against the Street Vendors Act earlier this year after entertaining a bunch of pleas relating to returning encroachments in prominent marketplaces.
The high court had noted that the implementation of the legislation was being bungled by the MCDs and other responsible authorities and had even called for a meeting with all government agencies to chalk out a proper implementation plan.
The court had remarked that the encroachments will lead to no space being left for pedestrians and shoppers but had also said that it was not against street vending. It said the rights of all stakeholders in this scenario must be balanced and called for better implementation.
On Tuesday, Ralli argued that the current Street Vending Scheme of 2019, as it exists, does not have a street vending plan — which he contested was a must for the implementation of the scheme. He said any such scheme cannot proceed unless norms are determined for street vending zones.
He went on to say that the scheme categorises vending zones under four subheads - Restriction free, Restricted, and No Vending or Time Sharing Vending. He noted that the power to designate such vending zones cannot be vested with an authority like the Town Vending Committee — arguing that the best a TVC can do is recommend measures, following which local authorities must enact norms
accordingly.
He further argued that the scheme's documentary requirements for a vending certificate were arbitrary — noting that as per the current scheme, anyone, even if found vending in illegal zones, may provide any document to show their vending activities and be entitled to a certificate.
