Municipalities must issue written notice before evicting street vendors, as mandated by the Street Vendors Act and related regulations.

J U D G M E N T

Dated this the 2^nd day of February, 2024 The petitioner is a street vendor, who is street vending for more than 12 years at Angamaly within the jurisdiction of the 2^nd respondent-Municipality. The petitioner is included in the list of street vendors published by the 2^nd respondent. 2. The petitioner states that in the year 2017, the 2^nd respondent issued identity card to the petitioner after conducting a survey. The survey conducted by the 2^nd respondent was not proper, even though the 2^nd respondent published the list of street vendors eligible for street vending. The 2^nd respondent issued Identity Cards to the street vendors including the petitioner. On 21.12.2023, the 2^nd respondent seized the trolley selling unit of the petitioner without giving notice and even without giving an oral warning to the petitioner. The petitioner approached the 2^nd respondent to get back the vehicle. The 2^nd respondent directed him to remit an amount of ₹510/- to release the vehicle. All the articles, including the trolley unit were destroyed by the 2^nd respondent officials. The petitioner, on good faith, paid the amount without knowing the reason, but, the 2^nd respondent, further directed the petitioner not to continue the business in his place.

3. The 2^nd respondent further warned the petitioner that they will not let the street vendors to run their business within the jurisdiction of the 2^nd respondent. Now, the petitioner is not able to run his small vending without his trolley and other utensils, moreover, the 2^nd respondent is not allowing the petitioner to restart his business. The petitioner again approached the 2^nd respondent and filed Ext.P5 complaint for compensation. That also was not accepted. The 2^nd respondent is now trying to wipe out the street vendors from its jurisdiction.

4. The 2^nd respondent has not followed any procedure established under The Street Vendors (Protection of livelihood and regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014 while considering the application filed by the petitioner, contends the Counsel for the petitioner.

5. Standing Counsel entered appearance on behalf of the Municipality and resisted the writ petition filing counter affidavit, which states as follows:-

“4. It is pertinent to note that the Angamaly Town area is an important junction which connect MC road and National Highway 544. In view of the traffic stress at all times, there is considerable traffic congestion in the city area. It is creating a lot of road traffic issue resulting in genuine difficulty to the users of the roads as well as to the vehicular traffic. It was brought to the notice of the Municipality that the street vending in 'camp shed road' is one of the main reason for the traffic jam in the Angamaly Town, especially during the festive season and pilgrim season. Taking note of the situation, the Municipality officials several times in person requested the street vendors in camp shed road to shift their business to a place which does not create problem to the vehicular traffic in the town.

5. It is humbly submitted that the issue of traffic jam in the 'camp shed area' was discussed in the Traffic Regulatory Committee met on 02.08.2022 in which one of the decision was to shift the street vending in the camp shed road which is a busy stretch. A true copy of the deliberation and decision of the Traffic committee of the Angamaly Municipality is produced herewith and marked as Exhibit R2(a). The issue of traffic congestion is widely reported in leading newspapers also. A true copy of the news report in Malayala Manorama Daily dated 20.12.2023 is produced herewith and marked as Exhibit R2(b).

6. It is submitted that by invoking Section 38 of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 framed a Scheme namely 'Kerala Street Vend