The Court protected the livelihood of a street vendor holding a provisional Certificate of Vending by allowing them to operate subject to specific safety and hygiene conditions, while keeping the permission subject to the Town Vending Committee's future plans.

Prathiba M. Singh, J.

(Oral)

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present petition has been filed by the Petitioner under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, inter alia, seeking directions to the Respondents to allow the Petitioner to peacefully vend from the vending site i.e., on the Footpath/Open 13 Space, MB Road, near Mangal bazar Road, Sangam Vihar, Central Zone, Ward-S-85, New Delhi. (hereinafter, ‘the vending site’).

3. The case of the Petitioner is that he is a street vendor who has been vending from the said vending site for several years.

4. The Petitioner has been issued a provisional Certificate of Vending (hereinafter, ‘CoV’) bearing URI No.6995046 under the category of ‘Food snack with gas cylinder/fire’ for Central Zone, Ward-S-85, New Delhi.

5. The photograph of Petitioner’s vend has been placed on record and the same is set out below:

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6. The case of the Petitioner is that, despite having a provisional CoV, the concerned officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (hereinafter, ‘the MCD’) and the Delhi Police are not allowing him to peacefully vend from the vending site, and he is being regularly harassed by them.

7. The Court has considered the facts of this case. This Court is inclined to pass similar directions as have been passed in similar matters recently, wherein the Court has considered the case of similar vendors who are vending under the category of ‘Food/Snack with gas cylinder/fire’ i.e., in W.P.(C) 15082/2025 titled ‘ Rajendra Singh v. Commissioner of Police and Ors. ’ vide order dated 2nd February, 2026, W.P.(C) 19391/2025 titled ‘Mohd Badruddin v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi & Ors.’ vide order dated 8th January, 2026 and in W.P. (C) 1609/2026 titled ‘Rihana v. MCD & Ors.’ vide order dated 05th February, 2026.

8. The Petitioner’s provisional CoV is under the category ‘Food snack with gas cylinder/fire’. In order to protect the livelihood of the Petitioner, the present petition is disposed of in the following terms:

(i) The Petitioner shall abide by the terms and conditions of the provisional CoV;

(ii) The Petitioner shall be permitted to operate his vend, but shall use a gas cylinder which does not occupy too much space. It is made clear that only a small gas cylinder for heating of food and snacks shall be used by the Petitioner;

(iii) The Petitioner shall restrict himself to a particular space which shall not in any manner cause obstruction to the movement of pedestrians or cause any traffic congestion to vehicular traffic on the roads;

(iv) The Petitioner shall also be obliged to maintain cleanliness and hygiene around the vend, which he is working from and shall ensure the presence of a dustbin near the vend;

(v) Subject to the above, Condition No.11 in the CoV shall not apply to the Petitioner. The Petitioner shall comply with all the other conditions in the CoV;

(vi) It shall be ensured that the Petitioner shall not create any third- party interest in this provisional CoV and there shall be a bar on sub-letting or any handing over possession to any third party;

(vii) No permanent or temporary construction shall also be erected by the Petitioner.

9. The above stated directions shall be subject to any plan which the Town Vending Committee–II may be coming up with in terms of Section 21 of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 and no vested rights shall be claimed.

10. The petition is disposed of in these terms. Pending applications, if any, are also disposed of.