The Delhi high court has held that no weekly market will be permitted on Sundays on Netaji Subhash Marg near Jama Masjid. The decision comes after the North Delhi Municipal Corporation moved the court seeking a modification of its earlier order wherein it gave temporary relief to vendors by allowing them to have weekend markets.
A bench of justice Hima Kohli and justice Asha Menon said that “no weekly bazaar shall be permitted on Netaji Subhash Marg for hawking and squatting”.
The court vacated the interim order and said, “We deem it appropriate to vacate the interim order, dated February 27, wherein, as an interim measure, members of the petitioner/association were permitted to conduct weekly bazaar on Sundays on Netaji Subhash Marg.”
The North corporation had challenged the interim order, citing high traffic volume and congestion in the area due to hawking. And a status report in this regard was submitted to the court last year.
On February 27, a bench of justice GS Sistani and justice Jyoti Singh, in an interim order, had allowed vendors to conduct the weekly bazaar near Jama Masjid. The order was passed after the Saptahik Merchant Welfare Association had moved to the court against their removal.
On July 3, the North corporation gave a list of squatting and non-squatting zones prepared on the basis of joint inspections by officials of the civic body, public works department (PWD), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), traffic police and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The counsel for North corporation, advocate Mini Pushkarna, also submitted that “at no stage after 2005, was permission ever granted to conduct the weekly bazaar on Netaji Subhash Marg, an area that has been declared a no-squatting and no-hawking zone”.
Appearing for the Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal (CCSVM), advocate Sanjeev Ralli, cited a Supreme Court order wherein it had held that no weekly bazaar would be held in a non-squatting zone.
Reacting to this development, Sanjay Bhargava, president of CCSVM, said, “Vendors are taking up space even in prohibited areas and this is in connivance with the police and municipal corporation.”
“The vendors do not have any place to go and schemes for them have not been implemented. I would have been happier had the high court ensured an alternative site for these vendors,” Arbind Singh, national convener, National Association of Street Vendors of India, said.
First Published: Jul 17, 2019 22:03 IST
