JUDGMENT

Hima Kohli, J.(Oral)--The present petition is filed by the petitioner praying inter alia for quashing of an order dated 25.02.2011 passed by the Appellate Authority constituted under the directions of the Supreme Court of India for dealing with the cases of vendors in appeal.

2. The brief facts of the case, as per the petitioner, are that since the year 1982, he has been conducting his vending activities from in front of Vishal Cinema, Rajouri Garden and that he has been regularly paying the tehbazaari fee to respondent/MCD. In the year 1995, without affording a hearing to the petitioner, respondent/MCD allotted to him an alternate vending site at Khayala Village near Tilak Nagar. However, as the new site was found unsuitable by the petitioner, he continued to vend from his old site. Further, as per the petitioner, in the year 2000, respondent/MCD started issuing him receipts of tehbazaari fees showing that he was vending from two other sites, namely Raghubir Nagar and Tilak Bazaar. The petitioner contends that on inspection of both the sites, he found them unsuitable for vending and continued vending from his old site in front of Vishal Cinema.

3. The petitioner claims that he was forcefully removed by respondent/MCD from his vending site in front of Vishal Cinema, Rajouri Garden in the year 2008. Aggrieved by the said removal action, the petitioner filed WP(C) No. 8231/2008, wherein an order dated 24.11.2008 was passed directing respondent/MCD to ensure that the site allotted to the petitioner at Raghubir Nagar be handed over to him. As per the petitioner, the said site was never handed over to him, and inspite of that, respondent/MCD continued to issue tehbazaari receipts to him for the site at Raghubir Nagar.

4. Subsequently, the petitioner filed another petition, registered as WP(C) No.10244/2009, praying inter alia that in case he is not permitted to vend from his original site at Rajouri Garden, he be allotted an alternate site. Vide order dated 20.07.2009, passed in the aforesaid petition, the petitioner was granted liberty to approach the Zonal Vending Committee to agitate his grievance therein. On approaching the Zonal Vending Committee with the prayer that the vending site allotted to him at Raghubir Nagar be changed to a site either at Vishal Cinema or on Chaudhary Balbir Singh Marg or in Janakpuri or Karampura, vide order dated 29.1.2010, the Presiding Officer held that only the Appellate Authority constituted under the scheme laid down by the Supreme Court would be competent to consider a change in the tehbazaari site.

5. Thereafter, the petitioner filed a third writ petition, registered as W.P.(C) 6612/2010 praying inter alia for restraining the respondent/MCD from forcibly dispossessing him from the hawking/squatting site opposite Vishal Cinema. Vide order dated 28.09.2010, the relief sought by the petitioner in the aforesaid writ petition was declined by observing that the petitioner could not claim any right to hawk/squat particularly opposite Vishal Cinema and further that the said right could have been agitated by him only before the Zonal Vending Committee, which Committee, having decided not to allot him the specific site sought by the petitioner, he cannot now insist on the said allotment before this Court. It was further held that the petitioner had legitimately been allocated a hawking/vending site, which he chose to abandon of his own volition hence now he cannot be permitted squat at a site of his choice. As a result, the aforesaid writ petition was dismissed. However, the Zonal Vending Committee was directed to decide the application of the petitioner for change of site in a time bound manner. As the Presiding Officer of the Zonal Vending Committee held that the application of the petitioner for change of the site was to be moved before the Appellate Authority, the petitioner approached the Appellate Authority by filing appeal bearing No.140 of 2010.

6. By the impugned order