No-vending zones to be free of vendors by Dec 5 : The Tribune India

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No-vending zones to be free of vendors by Dec 5

CHANDIGARH: The no-vending zones in the city will be free of street vendors by December 5. For, the Municipal Corporation today told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the process of relocating street vendors had already started and would be over after the expiry of the 30-day period, mandatory under the rules.

No-vending zones to be free of vendors by Dec 5

Referring to the provisions of Section 18 (3) of the Act, the MC submitted that it had made it clear that no street vendor would be relocated/evicted by the local authorities unless he has been given a 30-day notice.



Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 19

The no-vending zones in the city will be free of street vendors by December 5. For, the Municipal Corporation today told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the process of relocating street vendors had already started and would be over after the expiry of the 30-day period, mandatory under the rules.

“The Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, has given a public notice to the street vendors, giving them 30-day time, which expires on December 4,” the corporation told the Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha and Justice Rajiv Sharma.

As the case came up for resumed hearing, the MC submitted that it had started the work of relocating and shifting registered street vendors, who had been given vending sites in the notified street vending zones through a draw of lots under the non-essential service providers category with the concurrence and approval of the town vending committee with effect from November 5.

Referring to the provisions of Section 18 (3) of the Act, the MC submitted that it had made it clear that no street vendor would be relocated/evicted by the local authorities unless he has been given a 30-day notice.

The Bench, during the course of the hearing, was also told that the MC had scrutinised and forwarded complaints, grievances and representations submitted by the street vendors, market associations, residents’ welfare associations and others to the town vending committee during its meeting on November 1. It was added the MC had taken the best possible measures to address the grievances, especially of the residents’ welfare association of Sector 15, regarding parking woes near the vending zones.

The Bench was also told that a public advertisement was published on November 5 in three leading newspapers in terms of Section 18 (4) and the street vendors “would be relocated physically in such a manner as may be specified in the scheme only after he has failed to vacate the place specified in the certificate of vending after the expiry period specified in the notice”.

The Bench was further told that the MC had distributed 2,812 provisional certificates of vending to registered street vendors of the 3,250. These were distributed through the public window and a sub-inspector of the enforcement branch of the MC.

“The MC has distributed allotment/relocation order to individual registered street vendors under the non-essential service providers category, who have been allotted vending sites in street vending zones through sub-inspectors of the enforcement wing of the MC with effect from November 7 from Sector 1 to 6 and Sector 17, which were notified as no-vending zones with a notice period of 30 days as per the provisions of the Act/rules/scheme,” it was added. After hearing the matter at length, the Bench fixed December 19 as the next date of hearing, when a fresh status report in the matter will be filed. UT senior standing counsel Pankaj Jain and assistant solicitor-general of India Chetan Mittal were present during the hearing.

The directions came on a bunch of petitions filed by Rajesh Kumar and other respondents against the Chandigarh Administration, the Municipal Commissioner and other respondents. There are 9,356 registered vendors in the city. 

In all, there are 44 vending zones in the city, 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 will now be shifted to the sites earmarked as vending zones.

After years of slumber, the corporation had, on September 10, told the Bench that it would remove the unauthorised and unregistered vendors within a month. Taking a note of the undertaking, Justice Sharma on behalf of the Bench had, on the previous date of hearing, directed the UT Senior Superintendent of Police to render complete assistance to the corporation in its endeavour.

Vendors given 30 days 

“The Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, has given a public notice to the street vendors, giving them 30-day time, which expires on December 4,” the corporation told the Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha and Justice Rajiv Sharma.

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