The problems with the Street Vendors Act in Delhi

A survey of vendors, mandated under the Act, started in January this year and till December 7, the last day of the survey, 76,301 street vendors have been identified by the three municipal corporations. This came after the first phase of the street vendor survey lasted till the end of September, with parts of the city still remaining, the urban development department of the Delhi government granted a two-month extension.

While municipal corporations have started issuing ‘Certificates of Vending’ (CoVs) to identified street vendors, they have not been provided space for vending yet, as mandated in the Act. It is these discrepancies that have prompted the Delhi High Court to say that there is “a big disconnect” in the implementation of the Street Vendors Act in the Capital, calling for a special meeting with officers of all civic bodies and other stakeholders on Saturday. HT looks at the myriad issues that are plaguing the implementation of the Act.

Current status of the survey

The Delhi government had notified 28 vending committees across the city covering the five local bodies and temporary bodies which then started conducting the survey in January. The government also hired two private companies to assist in the survey. Officials said that this process, however, got inevitably delayed by COVID 19. “While the survey of vendors is carried out by the private agencies, at least 40% members of TVC (Town Vending Committee) need to be present to authenticate the exercise,” a municipal official explained.

The Street Vendors Act estimates street vendors and hawkers to reasonably constitute 2.5% of the population of a city. As per a conservative estimate, there are around 4-5 lakh street vendors in Delhi. But with fewer than a lakh vendors identified, the Delhi government is now considering another extension of the survey which ended on December 7. Under phase one of the survey, the north corporation has identified 5,912 vendors in City Sadar-Pahar Ganj zone, 4,018 in Karol Bagh, 2,861 in Civil Lines, 5,334 in Keshav Puram, 5,080 in Rohini, and 4,614 in Narela. Similarly, the south corporation has identified 8,140 street vendors in the central zone, 7,789 in south zone, 4,350 in west zone, and 3,672 in Najafgarh. The east corporation has found 10,039 vendors in Shahdara South zone and 9,604 in Shahdara North zone. Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal said the civic body will make every effort to include those that remain if an extension is granted.

The New Delhi Municipal Council has not released any figures on the vendors identified in its areas. Richa Sinha, a manager with National Street Vendors Association said that the council has not carried out any survey of vendors after the TVC’s were constituted in 2019 and no certificates of vending have been issued. “A survey of the vendors was carried out in the council areas in 2016 but no new survey has been carried out. This has kept the legal status of the vendors unclear when evictions are continuously being carried out,” Sinha added.

Despite repeated attempts by HT, the NDMC officials did not comment on the matter.

Issues of implementation

While the Act was notified in May 2014, the rules and scheme for its implementation were notified by the Delhi government only in 2017 and in April 2019 respectively. The Delhi government had notified the scheme for the first time in 2015, but it was challenged by the street vendors’ organizations in the Delhi High court. The Act mandates the formation of a TVC for the identification of vendors and also vending zones. The TVCs will “ensure that all existing street vendors, identified in the survey, are accommodated in the vending zones”. The Delhi government has constituted 28 TVCs, including one each at the New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Cantonment Board. There are 11 TVCs in North MCD areas, 6 TVCs in East MCD and 9 covering South MCD areas. Each TVC has 30 members and it is headed by the zonal deputy commissioner and has the representation of elected street vendors, a senior municipal official explained.

Arbind Singh, the national coordinator of the National Association of Street Vendors of India, said, “There has been an inordinate delay in the implementation of this Act due to which lakhs of street vendors today live in the fear of eviction and face harassment by government agencies. It took the government agencies almost seven years to start the survey, which is not being carried out properly. There should have been just one TVC. The government’s decision to have 28 TVCs has only added to the problem.”

While the Act says that the vending zones will be identified on the recommendations of the TVCs, the 28 TVCs’ are only responsible for the survey under the present arrangement. Singh said, “So far the government is yet to identify vending zones, which is essential for effective implementation of the Act. The present TVCs don’t have the mandate to identify the vending zones. They are just involved in the identification of vendors.”

Last month, NASVI wrote to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asking him to make the Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) operational and empower TVCs as per the Act. “There is no mechanism for grievance redressal right now. We have also asked the CM to give full powers to the TVCs as mandated in the Act,” said Singh. The officials from all three municipal corporations confirmed that no vending zones have been identified yet. “No progress has been made in identifying the zones where space will be allocated to street vendors. New TVwill be elected by the street vendors identified in the survey. The space allocation and vending zone identification process will be undertaken in consultation with Delhi government and DDA only after the vending survey is completed and accepted by the state government,” an EDMC official explained.

A senior municipal official who is a member of the vending committee said on the condition of anonymity that the contradictions between the scheme notified by the Delhi government and the central act have added complications. “We are issuing the vending certificates as per the rules notified under the Delhi government’s scheme. The central act stated that the certificates will include the place of vending but the scheme does not specify this,” the official stated.

The harassment of vendors

Following court orders, a series of evictions of street vendors have taken place in Connaught Place, Janpath and neighbouring areas over the last couple of months. This has led to the vendors organising protests on Friday, a day marking Human Rights Day.

Mathura Bai, a disabled street vendor and a TVC member said that their rights of livelihood are being taken away. “We are not begging. We also have the right to feed our families. People have been vending in the area for the last two decades and should not be evicted overnight,” she said.

Sanju V, president of Kanti Nagar weekly market at Shahdara, said, “Less than 50% of the vendors have been surveyed so far. Vendors are in fear that they will be evicted or their goods will be confiscated by municipal authorities. They should give us a place, ideally allow us to continue where we have been setting up our weekly market for years now.”

AR Sunil Kumar Shahji, president of Delhi Pradesh Saptahik Bazaar Welfare Association, who has over 3000 vendors as part of the organisation, said, “Around 15% of the vendors have been able to get registered. The entire process is flawed, as vendors are being harassed despite getting registered. The government agencies need to streamline the system and make it vendor-friendly.”