Vendors can’t sell items in non-hawking zones: High Court

The Delhi high court on Wednesday said that street vendors cannot sell their wares in areas that were identified as non-hawking zones under the earlier schemes on street vending.

The court modified its September 9 order that said no street vendor should be evicted from city roads without following due process of law.

A Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal said it was modifying its September 9 order as the aspect of non-squatting zones were not inconsistent with the 2014 Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending Act which prohibits vending activities in non-vending areas.

The court noted that though the Act came into force on May 1, 2014, “there were several lapses in the proper implementation of its provisions and consequently, no vending zones have not yet been declared”.

It directed the Delhi government to explain, by way of an affidavit, “the steps being taken or proposed to be taken for creating a conducive framework to implement the provision of the Act within a timeline”.

On the NDMC’s contention that there has to be more than one scheme under the Act, the court said it was of the prima facie view that framing a separate scheme for the civic body was “impermissible under the law”.