“Common Man's Life Made Miserable": Bombay High Court Slams Maharashtra Govt Over Illegal Hawkers Menace, Seeks Clear Action Plan

Observing that the life of a common man is made 'miserable' because of the continued 'menace' of the illegal hawkers across the city, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday criticised the Maharashtra Government for failing to tackle the issue of illegal hawkers even after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) took action against them.

A division bench of Justice Ajay Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata expressed displeasure with the State's approach in this matter and urged it to make a statement if it was seriously concerned about the issues faced by the common man or was it only concerned about some 'special citizens.'

"The common man is suffering... A sitting Corporator's complaint isn't taken care of, he is the representative of the people... Whether the State is having any desire to take care of the common man or is it only for selective persons? Whether the State has a desire to implement its Act or not...The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act was enacted in 2013 what are you doing for 13 years? Nothing... Life of common man is being made miserable because police says we want BMC officials and they say they want police officers...Search the illegal hawkers and take action... This GR is only an eyewash... a lip service," Justice Gadkari observed orally. 

The bench was irked with the government counsel furnishing a copy a Government Resolution, issued earlier this month, which framed a timeline of around six months for constituting a Committee for proper implementation of the Act. 

The judges opined that it was too late in the day for the State to come up with such a GR. The bench also was unimpressed with the government counsel submitting that it had taken action against over 9,000 illegal hawkers.

"You say you have taken action against 9,000 illegal hawkers.. whereas there are around 3 lakh plus hawkers... This is an eyewash... These miscreants are creating trouble for the citizens... you need to take some action... Every station from Churchgate to Virar is inundated with hawkers... There are people who can complain and there are some who cannot... What we have before us is only the tip of the iceberg... People have given up on the State... They have lost hopes..." a visibly enraged Justice Khata remarked. 

The judges sought to know from the State's counsel if there was insufficient staff with the local police and pointed out that the Courts have already granted the liberty to deploy State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) to act against illegal hawkers. The bench told the counsel that already such illegal hawkers have threatened the President of a legal hawkers' association, have bashed citizens for lodging complaints against them etc. 

"What else do you want? This GR is nothing but frankly an eyewash... We do not want any lip service... BMC officers are not going to be perpetually on that spot it is for the police to be there and ensure that the hawkers don't return... The bottomline is the State is feigning ignorance... Year after year it is disobeying our orders..." the judges observed. 

Further, Justice Khata lost his cool after one of the counsels informed the bench that the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) has provided ample powers to the State Police to act against any 'menace' and specifies the action that can be taken against the first time and also the repeat offenders. 

Irked that such laws exist yet the State counsel was unaware of it, Justice Khata remarked, "You ought to have shown us these laws... you as a State cannot be permitted to say you are helpless... This is completely unacceptable... Middle class people cannot come to the HC... Outside every society there is this menace of hawkers... People are being bashed up, they are threatened and someone has also died because of this menace... And you as a State claim to be helpless... It's a shame that the State has to be told that these are your powers."

During the hearing, the bench sought to know from BMC counsel Chaitanya Chavan about the action taken against the illegal hawkers in respect of the complaint filed by sitting BJP Corporator Harsh Patel from suburban Goregaon. The counsel submitted an affidavit to substantiate the civic body's claim that proper action is taken and that all the illegal hawkers were removed from the sites there. 

The bench therefore, asked the State counsel to ensure that the hawkers do not return there again. However, it was informed that some of the illegal hawkers had declared that they would be staging protest at the site against the action taken by the BMC.

"This is a regular feature that we will continue with illegality and then if any action is taken we will come down in the streets and hold the city for ransom... Everybody else have the rights except the law abiding citizens... You (State) want the law abiding citizens to now come down on the streets? Or else just remove all the laws let there be no laws in the city," Justice Khata rebuked. 

The bench then granted a week's time to the State's counsel to go through all the previous orders of the HC in the instant matter and then come up with clear plan as to how it proposes to take action against the illegal hawkers. 

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