The Delhi High Court has said that officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Police must act in coordination to ensure that Chandni Chowk remains free from encroachments, accessible to pedestrians and conducive to the movement of visitors.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Dinesh Bhatt made the observation while reviving a 2017 petition seeking removal of unauthorised hawking, vending and encroachments from Chandni Chowk.

The Court observed that the Special Task Force (STF), constituted to prevent illegal hawking and encroachments in the area, was under an obligation to regularly conduct visits and anti-encroachment drives.

Taking note of photographs placed on record by the petitioner-Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal, the Bench observed that they revealed an “alarming state of affairs”, with vending continuing in a “hazardous, chaotic and unregulated manner”.

The Court remarked that had the STF been functioning effectively and discharging its obligations, the present state of affairs would not have arisen.

“The STF is responsible for ensuring strict compliance with its own decisions as well as the orders passed by this Court,” the Bench observed.

The Court further clarified that irrespective of whether vendors possess Certificates of Vending, they cannot carry out vending activities on the three designated no-vending roads, namely: Main Road of Chandni Chowk from Red Fort to Fatehpuri; H.C. Sen Marg; and Subhash Marg.

The petition was filed by Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal (Regd.), alleging that despite the constitution of the STF, illegal and unauthorised vending activities had continued unabated in the area.

The Court noted that Chandni Chowk, Subhash Marg and adjoining areas were declared no-vending and no-squatting zones pursuant to the Supreme Court's directions in Gainda Ram & Ors. v. MCD & Ors. The scheme was approved by the Supreme Court in 2007.

In April 2022, the High Court had constituted the STF, co-headed by the Deputy Commissioner of MCD's City-SP Zone and the DCP, North District, Delhi Police, to regularly monitor and prevent the recurrence of illegal hawking, vending and encroachments.

The STF had subsequently decided to conduct regular joint anti-encroachment drives involving the MCD and Delhi Police, deploy police beat officials to prevent the return of illegal vendors and hold quarterly review meetings.

While disposing of the writ petition in December 2023, the High Court had directed the authorities to strictly implement these measures. It had also held that the Assistant Commissioner of the concerned MCD zone and the SHOs of Police Stations Lahori Gate and Kotwali would be personally responsible for ensuring compliance.

However, the petitioner approached the Court again, alleging that the STF had become inactive and that despite repeated representations, no effective action had been taken against the encroachments.

Taking note of the grievance, the Bench directed the Assistant Commissioner, City-SP Zone, MCD, the DCP/Additional DCP North, DCP (Traffic) North and Additional DCP-I, North District, Delhi Police, to convene an urgent meeting on November 06 at 11 AM to implement the decisions taken by the STF in December 2023.

Three representatives of the petitioner society were permitted to participate in the meeting.

The Court directed the concerned commissioners to take necessary action to remove all unauthorised and irregular vending activities from the three roads and ensure that such vending and encroachments do not recur.

The Court directed that a status report be filed by the concerned commissioners before the next date of hearing.

The matter will be heard next on November 26.