At a time when the Punjab and Haryana High Court is hearing a suo motu petition to clear encroachers from Chandigarh’s Sector 26 Fruit and Vegetable Market and provide better facilities to visitors, the Municipal Corporation’s Grievance Redressal and Disputes Resolution Committee (GRDRC) has allowed 34 vendors to set up stalls in the market’s parking area.
The committee passed the order on applications filed by vendors seeking permission to sell inside the mandi.
The applicants said they are registered street vendors who have been earning their livelihood by selling fruits and vegetables at their surveyed sites in the Sector 26 mandi for the last 20 years under the Essential Service Provider (ESP) category. They said they pay a monthly fee to the authorities.
They added that they were surveyed and registered by the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, during the 2015-16 survey and were issued survey numbers mentioned in their respective Certificates of Vending. They argued that they are entitled to work in Sabzi Mandi, Sector 26, Chandigarh, as their vending licences fall under the ESP category. Despite this, they said, they are not being allowed to work at their surveyed sites, causing financial hardship. They claimed they have paid vending fees by taking loans from relatives and friends and will not be able to repay those loans if they cannot vend.
The market committee strongly opposed the applications. It submitted that Grain Market in Sector 26 is a declared market yard governed by the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961. It argued that the applicants are illegal occupants of the area, which falls under the Market Committee’s control.
The Market Committee further stated that the applicants are street vendors governed by the Street Vendors Act, 2014, and are allowed to vend only in vending zones declared by the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh. It said these illegal vendors make it difficult for customers who visit the market daily and make it impossible to maintain cleanliness and hygiene in the area.
After hearing the arguments, the committee noted that counsel for the market committee said the area is proposed to be demarcated for parking for visitors and shopkeepers and therefore cannot be given to street vendors.
GRDRC held that this submission is not sustainable in law. It observed, “Parking for visitors does not take precedence over the livelihood of these legal street vendors, whose livelihood is at stake because they are not being allowed to vend at their surveyed sites, which is otherwise permissible under the Street Vendors Act, 2014.” It added that there is significant encroachment by traders in front of their shops, which should be removed to make space for parking and to widen the road.
The committee also observed that a large number of vendors are operating illegally and without authorisation in the mandi area, but no action is being taken to remove them “for reasons best known to the authorities concerned”.
Keeping these facts in view, the committee allowed the present applicants, except vending fee defaulters, who hold ESP licences, to work in the open area of the Grain Market.
The applicants have been directed to maintain cleanliness and a hygienic environment around their workspaces, and any lapse will not be tolerated. The Municipal Corporation’s area inspector, along with concerned market committee officials, has been directed to arrange these legal applicants systematically to avoid chaos. If possible, the stalls should be arranged in lanes. They must submit photographs of the arrangement to GRDRC within a week of the order.
