THANKAPPAN Vs. THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is a street vendor. According to him, he has been engaged in street vending for the last more than 25 years and the income derived from such street vending is the only source of income for him and his family. He has been conducting his street vending business in an isolated corner at Medical College junction, which is evidenced by Ext.P2. The place where his bunk is stationed is a 'road purampokku' on the western side of Ulloor - Medical College road. The place, where the bunk is presently stationed, has not been using by the general public as road thoroughfare and it will not cause any obstruction or inconvenience either to the general public or to the vehicular traffic. The grievance of the petitioner is that the respondents have initiated the proceeding to demolish the said bunk. Some persons claimed to be under instruction from the respondents 1 to 3 came to the bunk of the petitioner and insisted him to remove the same at once. But, they did not hand over any written order or the so called instruction from the respondents 1 to 3 to that effect. The said persons again came to the bunk and repeated the demand and threatened the petitioner that if the bunk is not removed, they will demolish and forcibly remove it. The said eviction proceedings were initiated in violation of the provisions under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 (in short, Act No. 7 of 2014). According to the petitioner, he has a right to proceed with the street vending unless and until he is evicted in accordance with the provisions under the above said enactment, which had come into force on 4th March, 2014.

(2.) THE 5th respondent suo motu got impleaded and filed a counter affidavit denying the allegations in the writ petition. According to the 5th respondent, the Government of Kerala vide its order G.O.(Ms) No. 48/2003/PWD dated 22.08.2003 had accorded sanction to acquire 46.95 acres of land within the Thiruvananthapuram Taluk, in view of the need to undertake widening of identical road links, within a short time frame, and to relieve the increasing congestion on city roads by invoking urgency clause under Section 17 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Under the said project, the Medical College - Ulloor -Kochulloor road is selected for widening and the petitioner's bunk is situating on the side of the said road. It is also submitted that the land in which the bunk is stationed belongs to the State Government and not a 'purampokku land' and the drainage canal on the extreme western end of the said land, which is covered by concrete slabs, belongs to Medical College. The land in which the bunk is erected originally belonged to Kerala Health Research and Welfare Society and the Society transferred the said land to the 5th Respondent for widening of the road. The 5th respondent had written to the 1st respondent to remove the unauthorized bunk erected by the petitioner in the project area earmarked for the construction of a bus bay. The Government in exercise of the powers conferred by Sections 3 and 4 of Kerala Highway Protection Act, 1999, declared the Project Engineer, Kerala Road Fund Board as Highway Authority and classified all corridors coming under Thiruvananthapuram City Road Improvement Project as State Highway including Pattom - Medical College - Ulloor - Kochulloor road. The piece of land in which the unauthorized bunk constructed is highly necessary for the construction of bus bay.

(3.) HEARD the learned counsel for the petitioner, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the 4th respondent, the learned Standing Counsel appearing for the 5th Respondent and the learned Government Pleader.