Chandigarh: Cancelling licences of erring vendors hits bylaw hurdle

Sandeep Rana

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Chandigarh, August 16

Cancelling licences of 2,410 registered street vendors, who have not paid vending fee since their registration in April 2018, has become a Herculean task for the Municipal Corporation. It has found that as per bylaws, each vendor has to be given a personal hearing before cancelling their licences.

Following the approval of the Town Vending Committee (TVC) earlier, the civic body had planned to serve a final notice to the erring vendors for the termination of their licences. However, it cannot be done as per the street vendors Act or else they will get a stay from the court. “The licences cannot be cancelled at one go. It is going to take a lot of time as each of them has to be called and met personally before deciding anything on the matter,” shared a senior MC officer.

10,920 registered street vendors

7,424 not paying vending fee regularly

2,410 never paid since registration

This will provide some breather to the vendors many of whom said they did not pay due to unviable vending sites they were allotted, while the others had various reasons for payment default.

The MC said efforts were made to make the vendors aware of their pending fee by publishing public notices from time to time, but they did not pay.

According to the MC, of a total of 10,920 registered street vendors in the city, 7,424 are not paying vending fee regularly and 2,410 have never paid at all. Among all states/UTs, Chandigarh has the lowest percentage (21.45) of registered street vendors, who are at present operating under vending IDs after being registered.

Many vending sites allocated by the MC are still lying vacant with as many as 2,512 registered vendors refusing to accept these spaces.

The corporation is in the process of finishing the work of establishing five “Model Vending Zones” at three UT villages to accommodate these vendors.

These five sites are among the 20 zones earlier approved by the UT Chief Architect. More zones were sought after the registered vendors did not find the 46 existing sites in the city commercially viable. Thus, most of these vendors have been running business from areas that have not been allotted to them.

‘Model Vending Zones’

The corporation is in the process of finishing the work of establishing five “Model Vending Zones” at three UT villages to accommodate the vendors who have refused to accept the sites allocated to them. These five sites are among 20 zones earlier approved by the UT Chief Architect.

Many Spaces lying vacant

Many vending sites allocated by the MC are lying vacant with 2,512 registered vendors refusing to accept 46 spaces in the city. They say these spaces are commercially unviable.