The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the BMC and the government of Maharashtra to file a reply on the public interest litigation seeking removal of all illegal ‘Shiv Vadapav’ stalls and carts from roads of Mumbai. The petition has also sought investigation into the launch of the Shiv Vadapav scheme alleging politicians were providing protection to such stalls after taking money from the stall owners.
Janseva Mandal, an NGO, had filed this petition last year and it came up for hearing before the division bench of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice Makrand Subhash Karnik which asked the respondents to file their reply and posted the matter for hearing after summer vacation.
According advocate Umesh Mohite, the petitioner had seen a news report based on details received by municipal corporator Dhananjay Pisal which said that there were more than 250 Shiv Vadapav stalls across the city, however, the none of the licensing authorities have issued any licence to run them. The petitioner then collected these documents from the corporator and filed the petition.
The petitioner also alleged that Shiv Vadapav is nothing but re-introduction of ‘Zunka Bhakar Centre’, which was scrapped on the court’s order. “Zunka Bhakar Centres had BMC and state licence but still the high court and later Supreme Court directed that they be shut down,” said Mr Mohite adding that BMC’s health and licensing departments have clearly stated in their replies to the RTI that they did not issue any licence to Shiv Vadapav scheme.
It is alleged in the petition that as per information gathered by petitioner permission to run Shiv Vadapav business is given at the local level by the ward office on the recommendation of local politicians. The petitioner has claimed that the permission mean the civic body does not take action against these stalls but to get this permission to run the business one has to shell out one-time amount of around Rs 80,000 and monthly share of Rs 5,000. “However, who collects the money and who keeps the same, what happens to the money collected is not accounted for and thus it is seen that the entire scheme is illegal and a big scam,” read the petition.
