Apex court refuses to interfere with HC orders on vendors

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 27

The Supreme Court today refused to interfere with the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders on removal of vendors from the no-vending zones, while taking up a special leave petition (SLP) filed by the Sukhna Lake vendors.

Dismissing the petition, the Supreme Court Bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Ajay Rastogi asserted: “Since the High Court is seized of the proceedings in the civil writ petition and is monitoring the entire issue pertaining to the carving out of vending and non-vending zones, we are not inclined to exercise our jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution”.

Before parting with the order, the Bench asserted that this was eminently a matter where objections, if any, should be addressed to and considered by the High Court so that a holistic view of the entire process could be formed. “For these reasons, we leave it open to the petitioners to bring the grievance to the notice of the High Court. Subject to the above observations, the SLP is dismissed,” the Bench added.

Appearing before the Bench on behalf of the Sector 17 traders, senior advocate Puneet Bali clarified that vending could not be allowed in Sector 1-6 and 17 as these were UNESCO heritage sites.

There are 9,356 registered vendors in the city. In all, there are 44 vending zones, which entail more than 5,000 vending sites for the registered vendors. Available information suggests there are 641 registered vendors in Sector 17 alone. They would now be shifted to the sites earmarked as vending zones.

Virtually rapping the authorities concerned for converting tourist attraction Chandigarh into a vending zone, the High Court had on October 17 directed immediate removal of unregistered vendors from Sector 17, while making it clear that the city’s downtown and Sectors 1 to 6 were no-vending zones.

Directions were also issued for allocating proposed sites to the registered vendors. For the purpose, the Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and first puisne Justice Rajiv Sharma set a four-week deadline.

The Bench also made it clear that only essential service providers described under the “Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Municipal Corporation Chandigarh Bylaws-2018”, would be allowed to operate from Sector 17.

“Essential Service Providers” under the bylaws mean street vendors providing essential services within the vicinity, including cobbler, milk, bread and egg seller, tea vendor, cycle/rickshaw repairer.

The Bench had also directed the competent authority in the Municipal Corporation and the UT Administration to consider and pass appropriate orders on representations filed by Sector 15 and other residents and even the vendors.