Delhi High Court bars hawkers at Nehru Place

The Delhi High Court Saturday dismissed the petition of a hawker, making it clear that no one was permitted to hawk or vend in the open areas of Nehru Place in the national capital, marked a "No Hawking Zone".

A division bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw termed hawking and vending activities in the Nehru Place area as "illegal", as "Nehru Place has been declared a 'No Hawking Zone' and no one is permitted to hawk or vend from open areas, streets and pavements thereof."

The court's direction came on an appeal filed by a hawker against the single judge order, which had earlier dismissed the plea of Urmila Devi (the hawker-petitioner)seeking permission to be reinstated at Nehru Place Commercial Complex.

The bench said: "The National Policy for Urban Street Vendors does not vest any right in the appellant (Devi) to carry on hawking/vending activities from 'No Hawking Zones'. The claim of the appellant has already been rejected by the Zonal Vending Committee (ZVC)."

Devi's application for a vending site under the National Policy for Urban Street Vendors had been rejected by the ZVC of the MCD due to non-availability of vending sites; she was challenging that ruling in the high court, seeking that the court restrain the municipal corporation and the Delhi Development Authority from dispossessing her of the site till a permanent or alternative vending site was allotted.

DDA opposed the plea, denying that Devi was hawking from the pavement in Nehru Place, and it contended that Nehru Place had been declared a "No Hawking Zone".
MCD also pleaded that the Nehru Place District Centre was no longer within its jurisdiction; it had been transferred to the DDA in the year 2002. It also denied that  Devi was a valid tehbazari holder of the MCD.

The counsel appearing for Devi contended that Devi was in fact hawking from the Nehru Place area, and that the contention of the DDA and the MCD were incorrect.

Earlier too, the high court had restrained many hawkers who wanted to be reinstated at Nehru Place Commercial Complex, from where they had been evacuated by DDA in 2007.