DELHI SHRAMIK SANGATHAN Vs. MANISH GUPTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) W .P.(C) No.144/2013 has been filed by the petitioner : Delhi Shramik Sangathan. It espouses the cause of 130 hawkers/vendors, statedly carrying on business in Harkesh Nagar. It is the case of the petitioner that the said 130 hawkers whose names are as per Annexure P -2 to the writ petition were tricked into temporarily shifting to a nearby place when the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation wanted to execute some works pertaining to its parking near Okhla Phase II Metro Station. It is the case of the petitioner that the said 130 hawkers were hawking their goods from a site in front of Shiv Mandir, Harkesh Nagar, Okhla Industrial Area Phase II. It is the further case of the petitioner that the place whereto said 130 hawkers were shifted was filthy. Sanitary conditions were pitiable. The right to dignity and the right to carry on trade in a congenial atmosphere of the said 130 persons was violated. Another grievance made was that the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors - 2009, formulated on June 17, 2009 was not being given effect to, in that, the Street Vending Committees required to be constituted were not constituted and thus the street vendors had no fora where their grievances could be redressed. The petitioner lays emphasis on the fact that as per directions issued by the Supreme Court no existing street vendor can be removed from a vending site and that the existing street vendors would have a right to have their claims adjudicated before the said Vending Committee should a dispute arise regarding their status. The petitioner further lays emphasis on the fact that till the Street Vending Committees are constituted any issue concerning the 130 street vendors, whose cause is being espoused, have a right to carry on their trade unobstructed by the Municipal or the Police Authorities.

(2.) THE respondents are not at variance with the petitioners on the legal position concerning street vendors as propounded by the petitioner and concede that till the Vending Committees decide their claims, since they assert to be existing street vendors, they would have a right to carry on trade. But in a legitimate manner. The case of the respondents is that the place wherefrom the 130 street vendors whose cause is being espoused by the petitioner are carrying on their business currently is not an approved squatting zone. As per the Corporation, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had a right to remove them from the land belonging to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. As regards the garbage, the stand of the Corporation is that the same is removed daily. Learned counsel for the Corporation also emphasize that even the vendors owe a responsibility to ensure that neither they nor their customers litter the site. Such of them who sell food stuff must ensure that they keep a receptacle nearby the place from where they sell food stuff so that the paper plates or pattals (dry leaves bound in a manner that they can be used as akin to a plate) are thrown by their customers in the receptacle which could then be empty into the Municipal garbage dumps nearby.

(3.) CONTEMPT Case (C) No.176/2014 was filed by the petitioner alleging that the police had connived with the officers of the Corporation to remove the hawkers and seize their handcarts because bribe was not being paid. On February 26, 2014 force was used by the police. Innocent hawkers were beaten up and on a false allegation, FIR No.145/2014 dated February 26, 2014 for offences punishable under Section 147, 148, 149, 186, 332 and 353 IPC was registered at the local police station. Another grievance made was that the Municipal Authorities were attempting to construct a public toilet near the hawking zone. It was alleged that the same would create nuisance. Prayer made is to restrain the Corporation from constructing the public toilet at the proposed site. A video has been filed which is of a 10 minutes duration and shows the Municipal Officers under police protection removing handcarts. A mild lathi charge being resorted to by the police is also to be seen.