Explain how street vendors get cylinders: Bombay HC

Mumbai: The Bombay high court came down heavily on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for allowing roadside vendors to use cylinders for cooking food when roadside cooking was banned. The directions were issued when the court was informed of its order being flouted. The court asked the civic body to file its explanation in this regard.

A division bench of Justice A.S. Oka and Justice Riyaz Chagla was hearing a writ petition filed by Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association praying for directions to the BMC to implement an October 2015 order of the HC that directed the civic body to take action against illegal roadside eateries that cooked in the open.

During the hearing the petitioner informed the court that though the court order had stipulated that any food stall that came up after May 1, 2014 should not be allowed to proliferate and should be removed.

The petitioner further said that despite the order, roadside eateries were being allowed to flourish and they were cooking on the road using gas cylinders — a threat to the lives of the pedestrians as well as people who patronised these stalls.

The petitioner also informed the court that apart from roadside cooking, the vendors did not pay any tax and used illegal water and electricity, but the civic corporation did not take any action against them.

The court concurred with the submissions of the petitioner that the BMC officials were turning a blind eye to the violation of court orders and directed the assistant commissioner of BMC to file a reply. The BMC has to file its reply before the next hearing, which has been scheduled for March 16.