Cases on vendors in different courts creating confusion: HC

Delhi High Court today observed that a number of pleas pending before different courts on issues concerning street vendors in the national capital were creating "unnecessary confusion" in adjudication and suggested taking them up together.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal said it would direct the high court registry to apprise it tomorrow about all matters relating to street vendors which are pending before separate courts here.
"This is unnecessarily creating confusion. It will be better if all these matters are taken up together for hearing. Let all these matters be listed tomorrow," the bench said.

During the brief hearing, the bench was informed that matters relating to street vendors were pending before a single judge bench of the high court.
To this, the bench said, "we will give directions to the registry to tell us what other similar matters on this issue are there."
"We will hear the matter tomorrow. Registry will give us the information. We will direct them. You all (parties) be here tomorrow. All the street vendors' matters will come up for hearing tomorrow before us," the bench said.

The bench was hearing separate pleas filed by Congress leader Ajay Maken and other petitioners on issues relating to street vendors in the national capital.

Earlier, the Delhi government had told the bench that no coercive action would be taken against street vendors here during the festive season of Diwali.
The AAP government on October 19 had told the bench that after deliberations, the concerned authorities have decided not to take action against street vendors as of now and this has also been communicated to the office of the Lieutenant Governor (LG).
Maken and other petitioners had alleged that municipal bodies of central and south Delhi were "throwing out" street vendors from hawking zones, despite a high court order protecting them from such action.
In their applications, the petitioners had contended that the bench on October 5 had ruled that its September 9 order that no street vendor should be evicted from the city roads without due process of law, shall not be applicable on non- hawking zones.

They had said that under the garb of this order, the New Delhi Municipal Council and South Delhi Municipal Corporation have started evicting people even from hawking zones like Rajiv Chowk, Indira Chowk and Lajpat Nagar and sought that they be restrained from taking any coercive action against street vendors.