Illegal Bangladeshi Hawkers Will Be Removed, Need Time To Verify Identity: BMC Tells Bombay High Court

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that the Bangladeshi nationals, who have entered India illegally, have no business here and cannot be permitted to indulge into hawking activites and would be removed soon.

The BMC through senior advocate Anil Singh along with Advocate Chaitanya Chavan told a division bench of Justice Ajay Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata that the civic body would require some time but it will surely remove the illegal Bangladeshi hawkers, if any.

"People who aren't nationals of this country, they have no business in this country and they will have to be removed... We just need time to inspect it and cross check..." Singh told the judges.

This statement was made in response to the query of the bench, which sought to know about the BMC's plan to act against the Bangladeshi nationals.

Posing the query, Justice Gadkari observed, "We have taken note of the fact that Bangladeshi nationals have infiltrated... That is a threat to the law and order situation in the city..."

Discussing the issue further, the bench suggested the civic body to provide identity cards to all the hawkers by identifying if they are Bangladeshi or Indian. However, when Singh submitted that the BMC would need protection from the police department to carry out such an activity, the bench quipped that most of the illegal hawkers were working under the "blessings" of the civic officers.

Amicus Curiae Jamshed Mistry informed the bench that out of the total 20 roads, which were to be maintained "hawker-free" as a pilot project of the BMC, only a single lane called "Mathurdas Road" in suburban Kandivali remained clear while the situation in the rest of the 19 sites continues to be the same.

At this, Justice Khata pointed out, "That road is clear because someone died for it... Someone was beaten to death there.... That's a shame..."

The judges therefore, suggested the BMC to provide identity cards to all the 99,000 plus hawkers so that it becomes easier for the officials to act against the Bangladeshi nationals, who have infiltrated into Mumbai and have resorted to hawking activities.

However, Singh told the judges that providing of ID cards cannot be done within a short time as the civic body will have to cross check if the person named in the list of 99,000 hawkers, are still alive or continue to hawk or not.

The bench, however, suggested that it is the civic officials who will have to go and cross check the identity of hawkers to ensure no Bangladeshi national is allowed to be on the streets.

The judges made it clear that the citizens cannot be made to flag these issues as there are chances that the illegal hawkers may attack the citizens or fellow hawkers, who would point out or complaint about the Bangladeshi nationals.

"Come up with some number wherein one can put up a photo of a Bangladeshi national hawking directly to the civic body on WhatsApp... Like this, the identity of the one who has filed the complaint, remains intact. Even it gives a clear idea to the civic body as to where exactly a person is and who she or he is," the judges suggested.

With this, the bench has adjourned the matter for further hearing till tomorrow.

Case Title: Bombay Hawkers Association vs Chairperson, Town Vending Committee (Writ Petition 2750 of 2019)