Don’t remove street vendors till TVC survey is done, HC tells LMC

Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Wednesday directed the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) not to remove any existing street vendor's shop until the town vending committee (TVC) completes the city-wide survey and issues street vending certificates, provided the shops do not obstruct the smooth flow of traffic.The division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice AK Kumar Chaudhary also asked the LMC to prepare a proper vending plan and fixed the next hearing in the matter after three months.
The order was passed on a petition filed by Amar Kumar Sonkar and other street vendors from the Aminabad area. The petitioners alleged that despite the survey being conducted, certificates had not been issued and eviction drives were still being carried out, which was against the spirit of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.According to official estimates, Lucknow has around one lakh street vendors.The bench observed, "Until a survey is completed as per law, the vending scheme is approved by the state govt and vending certificates are issued to all eligible street vendors, such vendors will continue to enjoy statutory protection under section 3(3) of the Street Vendors Act, 2014."During the hearing, the LMC admitted that although a vending plan had been prepared, it was yet to receive approval from the state govt. The court held that without such approval, the plan had no legal validity and noted that the mandatory processes of survey, planning and certification had remained pending for nearly 11 years.An LMC official said, "We respect the court's order and will ensure that no eligible vendor is removed. The process of finalising the vending plan and issuing certificates will be expedited in coordination with the state govt."