The Kerala High Court has directed the Kochi Corporation to comply with the court’s directive to publish the final list of vendors found eligible by the Town Vending Committee by January 4, and also the persons to whom certificates of vending had already been issued.
The court made it clear that in the event of failure by the Corporation to report compliance with its directives, the Secretary of the Corporation shall be personally present before the court.
The Corporation had last time informed the court that ‘Jagratha Samithis’ for street vending had been constituted in the divisions of the civic body. It was the responsibility of the Jagratha Samithi to conduct periodical surveillance of the area to ensure that only those street vendors who had been issued a certificate of vending by the Corporation carried out street vending operations in the respective area. The Corporation had sought more time to consider the list of fresh applications received between November 23 and December 5.
The court had issued the directives when a writ petition filed by Jamal K.K. seeking to allow him to continue his street vending on the sides of Avenue Road at Panampilly Nagar came up for hearing.
The court had directed the constitution of the Jagratha Samithi in each division, which comprised the respective councillor as its convener, Station House Officer of the jurisdictional police station and a representative of either the residential association or the recognised association representing commercial establishments in the area. The court had also directed to produce the list showing the composition of the Jagratha Samithi of the area.
