Justice Mini Pushkarna, Delhi High Court
Connaught Place Area Is No Vending/No Squatting Zone: Delhi High Court Upholds NDMC’s Action
|The Delhi High Court was considering the petitions filed by the squatters who were aggrieved by the action of the NDMC in removing their goods from the No Vending Zone.
While clarifying that the Connaught Place area has been considered and declared to be a ‘No Vending/No Squatting Zone’, the Delhi High Court has upheld the action of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) in the removal of the goods of the squatters from the ‘No Vending/No Squatting Zone’.
The High Court was considering the petitions filed by the petitioners (squatters) who were aggrieved by the action of the NDMC in removing their goods from the ‘No Vending/No Squatting Zone’.The petitioners alleged wilful disobedience of the earlier orders passed by the High Court.
Referring to Section 12 of the Street Vendors Act, the Bench stated, “The aforesaid Section of the Street Vendors Act categorically stipulates that where any area or space has been earmarked as ‘No-Vending Zone’, no street vendors shall carry out any vending activities in that zone. Thus, given that the Connaught Place area has been considered and declared to be a ‘No Vending/No Squatting Zone’ by the NDMC, which is undisputedly continuing even today, the petitioners herein do not have any right to continue with their vending activities in the said area.”
"Accordingly, no fault is found in the action of the NDMC in removal of the goods of the petitioners from the ‘No Vending/No Vending Zone”, it added.
Advocate N.K. Sahoo represented the Appellant while Addl. Standing Counsel Vivek Narayan Sharma represented the Respondent.
Arguments
The petitioners has relied upon a judgment dated May 18, 2016 to submit that all the preexisting right holders who are defined as Street Vendors/tehbazari licensees, should not be disturbed except to the extent of the determination by the Town Vending Committee (TVC) that space/place occupied by them is prima facie not in accordance with paragraphs 2.1.17 – 2.1.22 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Scheme, 2016 (Delhi Street Vendors Scheme - 2016). The petitioners claimed that they had pre-existing rights, as their names were included in the list of 628 unauthorised squatters prepared by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) as per the Supreme Court's directions.
It was the case of the NDMC that the petitioners do not have any licence or Certificate of Vending in their favour. It was submitted that though a lottery was carried out for the purpose of allotment of various tehbazari licences to various persons mentioned in the list, the said process never fructified due to various litigations in different Courts.
Reasoning
On a perusal of the submissions of the respondent-NDMC, the Bench noted that the petitioners had no pre-existing rights in terms of the judgment dated May 18, 2016, passed by the Division Bench of the High Court.
It was brought to the Court’s notice that the goods of the petitioners were removed on November 5, 2022, on account of them vending in a ‘No Vending Zone’, and notice in that regard was given to the petitioners on November 6, 2022. “Even otherwise, perusal of the aforesaid list clearly shows that the said list was of unauthorized persons, and no right was conferred on such 628 persons for grant of any tehbazari licences”, it added.
Reference was also made to the judgment in New Delhi Traders Association Versus New Delhi Municipal Corporation & Ors. (2021) as per which the Connaught Place area as well as Connaught Circus had been classified as ‘No Vending/No Hawking Zones’ by the NDMC, wherein, no vending or hawking is allowed except to the 80 vendors as noted in paragraph 14 of the said order. The Bench noted that the petitioners did not fall in the list of the 80 persons who had been recognised by the NDMC for the purpose of carrying out vending/hawking activities in the Connaught Place/Connaught Circus Area.
The Bench thus stated, “Accordingly, the petitioners have not been able to show any preexisting right. Furthermore, it has come to the fore that the Connaught Place/Connaught Circus area is a ‘No Vending/No Hawing Zone’.
Thus, discharging the contempt notice, the Bench dismissed the Petitions.
Cause Title: Mahavir Jain v. Amit Yadav and Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2026:DHC:7242)
Appearance
Appellant: Advocate N.K. Sahoo
Respondent: Addl. Standing Counsel Vivek Narayan Sharma, ASC Ankita Sarangi, Advocates Mahima Bhardwaj Kalucha, Akash Singh, Ajay Kumar Narula, Palak Kaushik