Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Friday refused to grant a stay on its Wednesday order that rejected the plea by several petitioners seeking its permission for hawking anywhere in the city and not only at spots designated as hawking zones by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The Hawkers’ representative had on Friday approached the HC, saying they want to challenge the HC’s Wednesday order in the Supreme Court and therefore till then the order should be stayed.
One of the petitioners, the Azad Hawkers Union, had sought a stay for eight weeks to approach the Supreme Court, but a division bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice M.S. Karnik denied this on Friday. The court, however, clarified that around 99,000 hawkers, who were found to be eligible under the survey conducted by the BMC, continued to be protected under the orders.
On November 1 this year The Bombay high court, while hearing a bunch of petitions, rejected the plea seeking permission to allow hawking anywhere in the city except in areas designated by the BMC. Many hawkers’ associations sought relief against the anti-encroachment and anti-hawking drives of the BMC. Petitioners, including Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, claimed that as per the Street Vendors Act, municipal authorities couldn’t evict them.
