New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday pulled up the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for complaining about non-compliance of hawking conditions by certain vendors at Nehru Place and said that it is for the authority to ensure that the orders are followed.
A bench headed by Justice Manmohan said that it was surprising that the ground reality was not brought to the notice of the committee constituted to look into such issues and questioned what the coordinator was doing.
But what is your committee doing? What is your coordinator doing? I will direct the committee to take action and file a status report, said the
bench, also comprising Justice Navin Chawla.
The court sought an action-taken report from the committee as well as the presence of the committee in charge on the next date of hearing.
You are complaining to us that everyone is violating your order (when) they are supposed to ensure compliance, the bench stated.
The court, which was hearing a batch of petitions concerning vending in the Nehru Place area, noted that the SDMC, in an affidavit filed in a related contempt case, submitted that certain vendors were occupying much larger space than mandated and were regularly flouting restrictions with impunity.
SDMC claimed that the erring vendors were not complying with the restrictions concerning the time of vending as well, it further noted.
The court remarked that while the SDMC official was telling us the truth , he has to take action at the ground level.
Isn't it a bit astonishing that they (SDMC) are telling us that there is the violation? Are these people powerless? Don't they have any power? They don't have any jurisdiction? They don't have any power vested in them? Why are they complaining to us? We should be complaining to them..next time a police officer will come and say that a theft is taking place, you help me out, the court observed.
Please see, he (SDMC official) is telling us your order is being violated and we can't do anything about it. What is he getting a salary for? What is your staff doing? They are complaining to us, it added.
On November 10, the court had asked SDMC to give its suggestions on managing squatters at Nehru Place, saying that such a big commercial area should not become a slum.
It had said that until another bench of the high court decides the issues concerning town vending committees, prima facie it would allow vendors who already have judicial orders in their favour, to continue hawking while strictly complying with the restrictions with regards time, space, and place imposed upon them.
On August 13, the court had initiated a PIL on its own after taking note of an incident of fire in a building at Nehru Place, District Commercial Centre.
It had said the enormity of the problem was caused by hawkers and vendors at the Nehru Place area, which could be seen from a video circulated on social media, showing that it was difficult for the fire tenders to access the building where the fire broke out.
Pursuant to the court's order, a mock drill was conducted by the Delhi fire service, which had disclosed that while none of the vehicles could reach the place where the fire took place, fire tenders could only reach up to the upper plaza and the lower plaza was not reachable.