Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to prepare new identification cards with QR codes for the approximately 99,000 eligible hawkers within five weeks. The division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata instructed the Hawkers Unions to cooperate with the BMC and send hawkers to the licence department of each ward.
Court Directives and Compliance
Justices Gadkari and Khata ordered that all previous orders must be strictly complied with and adjourned the suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on hawking issues and implementation of the Street Vendors Act to June 10. The court expressed dissatisfaction with the handling of the large number of illegal hawkers and emphasized that QR codes would bring transparency to the system.
Identification of Illegal Hawkers
The High Court also sought a plan from the BMC on how it will identify alleged Bangladeshi hawkers. Advocate Jamshed Mistry, the amicus curiae, highlighted the importance of implementing the Street Vendors Act. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, representing the BMC, stated that the civic body would take necessary steps but noted that establishing the identities of hawkers would take time.
Background of the Case
On March 26, the High Court had passed directions on a cluster of petitions, including upholding a voters' list for the Town Vending Committee elections and directing the BMC to permit 99,435 persons found eligible to hawk while verifying the remaining 29,008 within four months.
About the Author
Swati Deshpande is a Senior Editor at The Times of India, Mumbai, where she has been covering courts for over a decade. She is passionate about law and works towards enlightening people about their statutory, legal, and fundamental rights. She makes it her job to decipher for the public the truth, be it in an intricate civil dispute or in a gruesome criminal case.
