Madras HC pulls up Chennai Corporation, seeks details on street vending zones
At the present pace, it would take several years to complete the task, says bench
Madras High Court (File)
CHENNAI: Noting that a large number of petitions were flooding the court seeking permission for street vending licence because the Greater Chennai Corporation was moving at snail's pace in declaring street vending zones, said the Madras High Court directed the civic body to file a comprehensive report comprising particulars, including how many streets have been identified as street vending zones.
If the pace at which the Town Vending Committee is moving to declare streets and areas as non-vending zones was permitted to continue, it would take several years to complete the task, said a division bench of Justice R Suresh Kumar and Justice AD Jagadish Chandira.
The bench then directed both the corporation and the committee to come up with a comprehensive report declaring streets and areas as vending zones or non-vending zones across the corporation limits, and posted the matter to February 25 for further submission.
“The comprehensive report must comprise details regarding how many roads, streets, and areas are located by vending committees, how many areas have already been identified as market areas, how many locations have been declared as vending zones and non-vending zones, and how many street vendors or hawkers are permitted or licenced under the Vendors (Protection of livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014,” directed the bench.
The bench issued the directions while hearing a batch of cases moved by street vendors or hawkers from Nageswara Road, T Nagar, seeking licence to run their business and declare their business area as vending zone.
Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran sought time to file a report detailing the actions that have been taken so far in compliance with the court's order.
Corporation standing counsel DBR Prabhu submitted that nine meetings have been conducted in this regard so far. These meetings were chaired by the Chennai Corporation Commissioner who is the ex officio chairman of the committee. The counsel also submitted that only parts of the city have been declared as either vending zone or non-vending zone and the remaining parts were yet to be declared.
