The Delhi High Court today was in agreement with an NGO's statement that municipal corporations are not implementing the Street Vendors Act as they want the vendors to be at their mercy "to extract hafta from them".
"Absolutely. We completely agree with you," a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul said in response to advocate Prashant Bhushan's submission, on behalf of the NGO, that the Act is not being implemented as the civic bodies "wants street vendors at their mercy to extract hafta from them".
The bench also pulled up the Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCDs) for violating its order not to evict street vendors till a survey is completed regarding the number of such roadside businesses in the national capital and as stipulated under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.
It also termed MCDs' conduct as "contempt of court".
"We had said that till survey is completed no street vendors to be removed. There is complete embargo on evicting street vendors till survey is completed as per Street Vendors Act and a vending certificate is issued. This is contempt of court," the court said.
It also said "even today survey has not been completed" and added "consequently, no street vendors can be evicted".
The court was a hearing a PIL filed by NGO, National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), which alleged street vendors at Jama Masjid, Nahar Patti and Meena Bazaar areas here were evicted in August, 2014 in view of Independence Day celebrations.
The court sought a joint status report within three weeks from MCDs indicating whether any street vendors have been evicted from the aforesaid three areas.
If they were evicted, then they are permitted to come back, the court said and listed the matter for further hearing on January 15, 2015.
