The court established that only street vendors with valid certificates and IDs issued by the Municipal Corporation are authorized to operate, emphasizing compliance with the legislative framework for street vending.

JUDGMENT :

(A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.)

This batch of writ petitions concerns the issue of regulation of street vending activities within the limits of the Kochi Municipal Corporation. Writ petitions have been filed both by persons aggrieved by the attempts of the Municipal Corporation to prevent them from carrying on their street vending activities, as also by resident associations aggrieved by the proliferation of unlicensed street vendors carrying on vending activities in their residential areas.

2. The writ petitions have been pending since 2019, primarily on account of the fact that the legislative regime for regulating the activities of street vendors had not been effectively implemented in the State. The legislative regime envisaged is discernible from The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, The Kerala Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Rules and The Kerala Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending and Licensing) Scheme, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as “The Act”, “The Rules” and “The Scheme” respectively for brevity). The object of the said regime is to protect the rights of urban street vendors and to regulate street vending activities and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

3. Towards ensuring an effective implementation of the legislative regime within the limits of the Kochi Municipal Corporation it was felt necessary to first streamline the functioning of the Town Vending Committee of the Municipal Corporation so that important functions, such as the preparation of the plan for street vending and identification of existing street vendors and issuance of certificates of vending to them, could be carried out by the said committee. An Amicus Curiae – Dr. K.P. Pradeep - was also appointed to assist the court by monitoring the effective implementation of its orders. It was also realized that an effective regulation of street vending activities, and rehabilitation of those street vendors found operating in areas identified as non-vending zones, can be achieved only after a street vending plan, that identifies vending and non-vending zones, is first prepared by the Municipal Corporation. This Court, therefore, passed various orders in these writ petitions, regulating the street vending activities within the Kochi Municipal Corporation limits till such time as the Street Vending Plan for the Kochi Municipal Corporation was notified by the Government.

4. A brief chronology of the significant orders passed by this Court in the last five years reads as follows:

- Order dated 24.01.2020 : The Divisional Councillors of each division of the Cochin Corporation were asked to identify the street vendors operating within the territorial limits of their respective divisions and to submit a list of such persons before the Town Vending Committee constituted in terms of the Rules within three weeks. The Corporation was also directed to publish, within that time, a summary of the Scheme notified by the State Government, in at least two local newspapers having circulation within the area of the Corporation and further, to ensure that the necessary bye-laws in conformity with the Scheme, as required under Section 37 of the Act, are framed by it within two months. The Assistant Commissioners of Police (Traffic) West and East were directed to consider the areas identified by the Corporation as possible vending zones, and submit their suggestions after conducting a joint inspection of the areas along with the representatives of the Corporation and the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA).

- Order dated 19.02.2020: The court took note of the lists of street vendors, prepared and submitted by each of the Divisional Councillors before the Town Vending Committee, and directed the latter committee to compare the names in the said lists, with the names in the lists earlier prepared by the Corporation, and pr