FEDERATION OF NEHRU PLACE ASSOCIATION (REGD) & ORS Vs. SOUTH DELHI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION THROUGH ITS COMMISSIONER & ANR.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner before this Court is the Federation of Nehru Place Association. The other 22 petitioners are the property occupiers of Nehru Place. Nehru Place is stated to be a shopping-cum-office complex designed by the Delhi Development Authority. It is placed in category 'A' for the purpose of property tax. The petitioners are aggrieved by the action of the statutory bodies who are allowing/relocating various illegal vendors/hawkers from various locations and bringing them in front of the shop of the petitioners which is w.e.f. 26.04.2016. These illegal vendors are filling up all empty spaces in connivance with the officials of the statutory bodies; these street vendors are unlicensed and illegal; they are not permitted to hawk in this zone which is declared a 'no hawking zone'. Writ petition has been filed seeking action against them by the statutory bodies.

(2.) A counter affidavit has been filed by the respondent/South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). The stand of the respondent in this counter is that in earlier W.P. (C) No. 9407/2007 Manushi Sangathan Vs. DDA had been filed which had been disposed of pursuant to which an LPA had been filed and LPA No. 766/2008 was also decided on 17.04.2009 leaving open the question as to whether Nehru Place should be declared as 'no hawking zone'; the question of demarcating of a no vending zone would also be decided by the DDA after making a reference to the Ward Vending Committee and in terms of the directions of Supreme Court contained in the judgment of Sudhir Madan. The SLP against this LPA was disposed of on 25.04.2011 wherein the contention of the respondent DDA was that although the hawkers in that petition (as an interim measure) would not be coercively dispossessed yet the DDA retained his right to declare Nehru Place as a no hawking zone was noted. Additional submission being that on 10.08.2009, the LG had declared Nehru Place as a no hawking zone. No tehbazari rights have been given by the MCD /SDMC in Nehru Place. The judgment of the Division Bench of this Court reported in Bhola Ram Patel v. New Delhi Municipal Council & Anr in LPA No.136/2016 has also been relied upon as also the directions contained therein in the light of the provisions of Sec. 3 (3) of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. Additional submission being that the Department has been taking action against the illegal and unauthorized squatters and the last action was taken on 04.08.2016 and not being pre-existing right holders and not having a license, action was taken against the said squatters. It was denied that there was only a cosmetic operation which had been carried out by the Department; this was in response to the submission of the petitioner that the respondent/SDMC is only carrying out a face wash and is not really interested in removing the illegal encroachers.

(3.) In the course of these proceedings, the concerned SHO Police had also been made a party. This was vide order dated 24.06.2016.