On October 4, hawkers near Mumbai’s Haji Ali Dargah complained to the Supreme Court that the authorities, in the name of removing encroachments, were trying to evict them.
Senior advocate Anand Grover, for the hawkers, told a Bench led by the Chief Justice of India that his clients are protected under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. The law mandates that hawkers can be removed only as a last resort or unless there is a clear and urgent need, that too to rehabilitate them.
The Act was passed on the basis of the legislative recognition that street vendors constitute “an integral part of our urban economy”. The government recognised street vending as not only a source of self-employment for the poor in cities and towns, but also as a means to provide “affordable” as well as “convenient” services to a majority of the urban population.
Street vendors are often those who are unable to get regular jobs in the remunerative formal sector on account of their low level of education and skills. They try to solve their livelihood issues through their meagre financial resources and sweat equity in a harassment-free atmosphere, the government said.
The law provides for the constitution of a town vending committee in each local authority to ensure implementation of the provisions of the Act. The committee makes decisions on various aspects, including determination of natural market, identification of vending zones, preparation of street vending plan, survey of street vendors, and so on. It has representatives among officials, non-officials, and street vendors, including women vendors with due representation from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, minorities, and persons with disabilities. Forty percent of the committee members are from among street vendors to be selected through election, of which one-third shall be women.
To avoid arbitrariness of authorities, the law had provided for a survey of all existing street vendors, and a subsequent survey at least once every five years, and issue of certificates of vending to all the street vendors identified in the survey, with preference to SC, ST, OBC, women, persons with disabilities and minorities.
It said no street vendor would be evicted until the survey was completed and certificate of vending issued.
