ORDER

Dr. Mukundakam Sharma, J.

1. By this common order we propose to dispose of various applications filed by the parties hereto including the one which has been filed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (in short the `MCD').

2. Delhi being the capital of India has many peculiar problems. One of the problems is naturally its population which has increased manifold obviously due to influx of people from various regions and States looking for new openings and avocations. Space availability in Delhi is very limited and within that limited space available at its disposal the municipalities namely the MCD and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (in short the `NDMC') have to manage all their activities including functioning of the markets at different places.

3. Limited space available for effective functioning of markets including accommodation available for the squatters and hawkers to carry on their small business has been receiving attention of this Court for quite a long time. In that regard, several orders have been passed by this Court from time to time. Pursuant to such orders of this Court the MCD as well as the NDMC have framed Schemes for running of the business by the squatters/hawkers. In response to the Schemes, nearly 85,000 people applied for allotment of spaces within the MCD area and about 10,000 people applied for such allotment within the NDMC area seeking settlement of the tehbazari rights under the Schemes as formulated by the MCD and the NDMC. Due to want of space only about three thousand of such applicants out of the aforesaid applications received could be allotted spaces by the concerned authorities.

4. So acute was the dissatisfaction with the process followed by municipal authorities that several complaints were filed in the Court raising numerous objections against the manner in which the MCD tried to implement the Schemes.

5. Under the Schemes formulated by the MCD and the NDMC hawking and non-hawking areas have been demarcated and the hawkers/squatters were to be located only in demarcated hawking zones in accordance with the priorities mentioned in the Schemes.

6. In the last few years a clearance operation was being carried out for the purposes of widening roads and decongesting crowded areas which affected a large proportion of genuine vendors who were either removed or dislocated for one reason or the other. In some cases possession was not given and in some other cases those persons, who were entitled to settlement under the Schemes have a grievance that their matters remained pending and no orders have been passed granting them relief. Consequent thereupon, a large number of applications were filed by the concerned authorities and aggrieved parties in which general directions were issued by this Court from time to time.

7. In the meantime, a Scheme called the "National Policy on Urban Street Vendors" (for short the `NPSV/Scheme') was formulated by the Government of India in the year 2004 which the MCD has agreed to implement in principle. In accordance with the said Scheme, Ward Vending Committees have been constituted in all the 134 Wards of the MCD. These committees were charged with the duties of identifying the sites, declaring hawking and non-hawking zones in consultation with various stakeholders like Vendors/Trader's Associations, Resident Welfare Associations, Traffic Police etc. in accordance with the relevant Rules. In addition to this, Zonal Vending Committees have also been constituted in all the 12 Zones.

8. According to the NPSV the total vending sites would not exceed 2.5% of the total population of that particular Ward/Zone based on the Census 2001 which is consistent with the policy framed for the purpose and about 3 lakh hawkers/squatters could be accommodated including existing tehbazari/vending sites. It was proposed in the Scheme that the rights of those hawkers/squatters already granted valid licenses under the Schemes finalized by the MCD would not be affected and that w