IMPORTANT POINT
The court directed the GMC to verify vendor permissions and evict unauthorized vendors from the market area, ensuring compliance with municipal regulations.

JUDGMENT :

Devashis Baruah, J.

Heard Mr. M.J. Baruah, the learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners. Mr. S. Bora, the learned Standing Counsel, GMC who appears on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1 to 4 and Mr. B.D. Goswami, the learned counsel who appears on behalf of respondent No. 5.

2. The case of the petitioners herein is that the petitioner No.1 is a Society registered under the provisions of the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The petitioner Nos. 2 to 6 are the members of the petitioner No. 1. In the year 1989, more particularly, on 22.02.1989, a fire incident took place in the Fancy Bazaar GMC market rendering hundreds of traders jobless. The said fire victims formed an association to raise the common grievances and protect the interest of the fire victims, particularly known as the Fancy Bazaar Municipal Market Dealers Association.

3. The said Association thereupon made various representations before the GMC. However, as there was no positive outcome resulted a writ petition was filed before this Court which was registered as C.R. No. 281/1989. The writ petition was disposed of by this Court vide an order dated 03.04.1989. In terms of the said order so passed in the writ petition, there was a direction to the GMC Authorities for completion of the Multi-storied building and the persons who were entitled to do business at the Machkhowa Temporary Market could be settled at the Multi-storied building cum office complex at Fancy Bazaar and the Machkhowa Temporary Market would be vacated thereafter.

4. It is also seen that subsequent thereto, there were two more writ petitions filed in the year 1998 and 2000 which were registered as C.R. No. 5290/1998 and WP(C) No. 4586/2000. The said writ petitions were disposed of by this court whereby two categories of victims of the 1989 fire incident were culled out. The Category-I victims were those who had valid licenses and Category-II victims were those persons who had licenses but their licenses had expired.

5. This Court in the common order passed in C.R. No. 5290/1998 and WP(C) No. 4586/2000, directed that those person in Category-I should be given allotment on priority basis. Thereupon the GMC Authorities floated a public notice on 02.04.2007 by which 61(sixty one) numbers of vendors/hawkers who were not fire victims were sought to be settled. The petitioner Association herein challenged the same by filing a writ petition being WP(C) No. 2254/2007, which was disposed of with certain observations and directions vide the judgment and order dated 18.09.2007. Paragraph Nos. 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the said judgment and order dated 18.09.2007 passed in WP(C) No. 2254/2007 being relevant is reproduced herein under:

‘8. In the backdrop of what have been indicated above, when I revert to the resolutions, adopted on 03.11.2004, what transpires is that the Guwahati Municipal Corporation resolved, on 03.11.2004, to allot open space surrounding the newly constructed market to fruit vendors including other hawkers. But, whether the term, ‘other hawkers’ included exclusively fruit vendors or not, is a question, which is not under challenge in the present writ petition and this Court, therefore, expresses no opinion as regards the question as to whether or not the resolution No.4, dated 03.11.2004, was meant to allot space to only such hawkers, who were fruit vendors. What is also of great significance to note is that the resolution, dated 17.12.2004, reflects that the Guwahati Municipal Corporation decided to allot open space inside their market, which forms the pattern of the alphabet ‘L’. It is the case of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation that while seeking to allot space in pursuant to the impugned Public Notice, dated 21 04. 2007, it has followed the resolutions dated 17.12.2004. In this regard, what needs to be pointed out is that though the Public Notice, dated 21.04.2007, mentions that the applicants may be permitted to use the space measuring in 4' X 4' each, Mr. Chamaria, learned