Mumbai, June 10, 2026: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Goregaon Police Station to investigate allegations of irregularities in the issuance of hawker licences to three persons of a family and submit an action-taken report within 14 days.
Directions By High Court
A bench of Justice Ajey Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata passed the directions after advocate Ashish Dube informed the court about an alleged scam in the hawker licensing system, claiming that it was flourishing with the support of the municipal administration.
Dube submitted documents before the court alleging that a family in Goregaon West, which owns five shops near the railway station, also holds three official hawker licences.
According to Dube, the family, despite being financially well-off and residing in a bungalow in Mumbai, allegedly obtained hawker licences by projecting itself as economically disadvantaged. He argued that such cases raise serious concerns about the transparency and authenticity of the hawker licensing process.
Taking note of the allegations, the court observed that if the claims are found to be true, the matter would be serious.
Formal Complaint And Inquiry
The court directed Dube to file a formal complaint with the Goregaon Police Station by Wednesday evening. It further ordered the Assistant Commissioner of Police of the concerned division to conduct an inquiry, complete the investigation within 14 days, and submit a report before the next hearing scheduled on June 30.
BMC Submissions On Hawker Verification
During the hearing, counsel for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Chaitanya Chavan, informed the court that Mumbai currently has 99,435 authorised hawkers.
He said the civic body is in the process of verifying identity cards and issuing licences. According to Chavan, QR codes have been generated for around 20,000 hawkers and their distribution is underway.
However, he said the verification process has been delayed as several licence holders have returned to their native villages.
Court Expresses Concern Over Delays
Senior Advocate Jamshed Mistry, appearing as amicus curiae, pointed out that the civic body had failed to undertake any public awareness campaign regarding the verification and QR-code process.
The court expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of implementation. The court questioned why authorities were not acting proactively, and remarked that reasons such as elections, workload, or shortage of staff could not justify delays.
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BMC Directed To Publish Hawker Verification Details
The court also directed the BMC to publish details of the hawker licence verification and QR-code process within a week in five leading newspapers, each in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, and English.
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