Observing that the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has defaulted in the timely implementation of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act of 2014, the Madras High Court has expressed dissatisfaction over the civic body not having issued certificates of vending so far to every mobile and stationary vendor in the city.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy granted a month’s time for the Corporation to pull up its socks and implement the Act in letter and spirit. Since it was reported that the vending and non-vending zones had been identified, the judges ordered an erection of appropriate notice boards in those localities.
Ordering that the activities, required to be undertaken under the law, should now be carried out on a day-to-day basis, the judges directed the Corporation to ensure that vendors were allowed only in the vending zones and not in the non-vending zones. They also called for a compliance report by April 7.
The interim orders were passed on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by S. Singaram, through his counsel P. Vijendran, for an effective implementation of the 2014 legislation. The petitioner brought it to the notice of the court that the implementation was sluggish despite orders passed by the Supreme Court.
Even after eight years since the law was passed, the Corporation was yet to issue certificates of vending. So far, it had issued only identity cards to the vendors and identified the vending and non-vending zones. Even such identification remained only on paper and had not been reflected on the ground, the counsel complained.
