Mumbai, June 30: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to investigate alleged large-scale irregularities in the issuance of hawker licences after it emerged that multiple members of the same family in Goregaon had been granted licences despite owning several shops.
Court Questions Multiple Licences
A Bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata also asked the civic body to explain within two weeks how three members of one family were issued hawker licences and what action it proposed to take against them.
Questioning the manner in which licences were granted, the Bench remarked, "Under which law have multiple members of the same family been granted hawker licences? We are left wondering which law the BMC officials are actually following."
The issue was raised by Goregaon resident advocate Ashish Dube, who alleged that a family in Goregaon West, which owns five shops near the railway station, had obtained three official hawker licences by suppressing material facts and filing false undertakings.
Pursuant to the court's earlier directions, both the Goregaon Police and the BMC conducted inquiries. On Tuesday, the police informed the court that the allegations were substantiated. The report stated that licences had been issued to 84-year-old Ramdeniprasad Kandu and his two sons. It further revealed that the family had rented out some of its shops for Rs 85,000 per month while continuing to operate as licensed hawkers. The family was also allegedly availing itself of the benefit of a licence meant for persons with disabilities.
The police further stated that although the policy permits only one hawker licence per family, 129 individuals from 85 families in the Goregaon West railway station area alone had been granted official licences.
Dube also claimed that 129 hawkers from 55 families had secured eligibility by submitting false undertakings.
BMC Asked To Investigate
Expressing concern, the Bench asked whether similar irregularities could exist among all 99,435 hawker licences issued across Mumbai. "If this is indeed the position, we may have to reconsider even our own detailed orders," the judges observed.
The court also criticised the BMC's AI-based grievance redressal system after amicus curiae Jamshed Mistry informed the Bench that it took nearly 45 minutes merely to register a complaint against illegal hawkers, with complainants receiving only an acknowledgement and no information about further action.
Justice Kamal Khata observed, "Do you really think Mumbaikars will spend an hour just to register a complaint? In a city where time is as valuable as money, people will simply stop filing complaints." The Bench said that complaints should instead be handled directly by responsible officials.
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QR Code Issues Raised
The Bench also took note of submissions made by hawkers' associations regarding technical flaws in the QR code/barcode system issued to licensed hawkers. While scanning the code displays the hawker's identity, it does not indicate the exact location where the hawker is authorised to operate, resulting in unnecessary harassment by the police.
The court directed the civic body to address the issue.
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