|
On February 19, 2014 the Rajya Sabha passed the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of
Street Vending) Act, 2014 and it received the President’s
assent earlier this month. This Act is a welcome step towards protecting the
right to life and livelihood of the poor. This post seeks to provide an
insight into this legislative attempt.
The
Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Dr.Girija Vyas while
introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha stated that street vending is a means
of self-employment for the poor and also provides affordable and convenient
services to a majority of the urban population. She further emphasized that these vendors must be able to pursue their
livelihoods in a congenial and harassment free atmosphere. This Bill was
passed by Lok Sabha on the 24th August, 2013 and transmitted
to Rajya Sabha for its concurrence. The Rajya Sabha passed the Bill with
amendments at its sitting held on the 19th February, 2014.
This legislative action reminds us of the decision
passed by the Supreme Court in the case of Olga Tellis v Union of
India[1] where the
Court held that eviction of slum dwellers, over 50 percent of whom were
street vendors, without alternative housing or arrangements would violate
their right to life and livelihood under Article 21 of the Constitution of
India. In its decision the Court did pay heed to the fact that the eviction
would possibly interfere with their rights under Article 19(1)(g) as well. The
decision was rendered in the context of eviction of slum dwellers who were
evicted by the Bombay Municipal Corporation without any alternate
arrangement.
The decision of the
Supreme Court in Sodan Singh v. NDMC[2] is also of
relevance. The Court stated that “If properly regulated according to the
exigency of the circumstances, the small traders on the side walks can
considerably add to the comfort and convenience of the general public,
by making available ordinary articles of everyday use for a comparatively
lesser price. An ordinary person, not very affluent, while hurrying towards
his home after a day’s work can pick up these articles without going out of
his way to find a regular market. The right to carry on trade or business
mentioned in Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, on street pavements, if
properly regulated cannot be denied on the ground that the streets are meant
exclusively for passing or re-passing and no other use.”
These decisions have important implications not only
the provisions of the Street Vendors Act, 2014 but also on the existing
jurisprudence on the subject. .This Act garners
the spirit of these famous cases and clearly provides for the protection of
livelihood rights, social security of street vendors and regulation of urban
street vending in the country.
The Act defines a
street vendor to include a person engaged in vending of articles, goods,
wares, food items or merchandise of everyday use or offering services to the
general public, in a street, lane, side walk, footpath, pavement, public park
or any other public place or private area, from a temporary built up
structure or by moving from place to place and includes hawker, peddler,
squatter and all other synonymous terms which may be local or region
specific.
Salient Features of
the Act:
Town Vending
Committee;
The Act envisions the formulation of a scheme, under which a ‘Town vending
Committee’ shall be established. This Committee will be responsible for
conducting surveys such that ‘vending zones’ can be clearly established. This
survey is to be conducted every 5 years after the first survey is completed. All existing street vendors, identified in the
survey, will be accommodated in the vending zones subject to a norm
conforming to 2.5% of the population of the ward or zone or town or city.
Where the number of street vendors identified are more than the holding
capacity of the vending zone, the Committee is required to carry out a draw
of lots for issuing the certificate of vending for that vending zone and the
remaining persons will be accommodated in any adjoining vending zone to avoid
relocation. Further
the committee is responsible for issuing vending certificated to vendors.
The Town Vending
Committee’s composition is one commendable feature of this Act. The Committee
is to have 40 per cent representation from the Street Vendors on the basis of
an election as per prescribed rules. Another 10 percent will be the
NGOs working in the field. The rest of the members are to be nominated by the Appropriate
Government[3]. The Committee will
have the Municipal Commissioner or Chief Executive Officer as the
Chairperson.
Vending
Certificates: The
Act seeks to provide all vendors with a certificate upon payment of a nominal
fee. The certificate will clearly highlight the vending zone, time allocated
for vending, conditions and restrictions for vending. This certificate is
issued for a specified period of time and can be renewed upon expiry. The
certificate is issued under three main categories (a) a stationary vendor;
(b) a mobile vendor; or (c) any other category as may be specified in the
scheme.
Rights of street
vendors: Vendors
now have the right to carry on business subject to the terms and conditions
of the vending certificate. In case of eviction street vendors can demand a
new site to carry on the business. Street vendors can now exercise the
statutory right to object to relocation or eviction until the survey is in
progress. In case a street vendor, to whom a
certificate of vending is issued, dies or suffers from any permanent
disability or is ill, one of his family member i.e. spouse or dependent child
can vend in his place, till the validity of the certificate of vending.
Duties of street
vendors: The
Act also enlists a few duties of a street vendor. These include general
duties to maintain cleanliness and public hygiene in the vending zones,
adherence to conditions of certificate maintenance of public property in the
vending zones. Street Vendors are also obligated to pay periodic maintenance
charges for facilities provided in the vending zones in addition to the
prescribed vending fee. Street vendors must also remove goods and wares at
the end of their time sharing period.
Relocation: The Act provides a clear procedure for relocation of vendors in
case they are inhabiting an area which has been declared as a non – vending
zone. The vendors are entitled to 30 days of notice before relocation.
Additionally the authorities have been empowered to seize the goods in such
case. In case they don’t relocate, they will be liable to pay for every day of
default.
Redressal of Grievances: Under the provisions of the Act, the Appropriate
Government may constitute one or more committees consisting of a
Chairperson who has been a civil judge or a judicial magistrate and two other
professionals. Every street vendor who has a grievance or dispute may make an
application in writing to the committee. The Committee is to then verify,
conduct enquiry and take steps for redress the grievance. Decisions of the
committee may appeal to the local authority.[4]
Plan: The
Local authority is required to make out a plan once in every 5 years, on the
recommendation of Town Vending Committee, to promote a supportive environment
and adequate space for urban street vendors to carry out their vocation. It
specifically provides that declaration of no-vending zone shall be carried
subject to the specified principles namely; any existing natural market, or
an existing market as identified under the survey shall not be declared as a
no-vending zone; declaration of no-vending zone shall be done in a manner
which displaces the minimum percentage of street vendors; no zone will be
declared as a no-vending zone till such time as the survey has not been
carried out and the plan for street vending has not been formulated. There is an important
provision which mandates that the Plans of the Committee ensure that the
provision of space or area for street vending is reasonable and consistent
with existing natural markets. Thus
the Bill provides for enough safeguards to protect street vendors interests.
Penal Provisions: If any street vendor indulges in vending activities without a
certificate of vending; contravenes the terms of certificate of vending; or
contravenes any other terms and conditions specified under the Act or Rules,
he shall be liable to a penalty for each such offence which may extend up to
rupees two thousand as may be determined by the local authority.
Other welfare provisions of the Act provide for the
appropriate Government to undertake promotional measures of making available
credit, insurance and other welfare schemes of social security for the street
vendors.
The legislation should be seen as a good first step
towards the protection of street vendors, however the jury is still out on
what the practical consequences of the application of the Act might be. On
the one hand, the rights of the street vendors has been recognised in a
legislation while on the other hand engaging in street vending without a
certificate is now illegal and entails penal consequences. This power to
issue certificates can be linked to the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Maharashtra
Ekta Hawkers Union v. Municipal Corporation, Greater Mumbai[5] where the Court made it clear
that hawkers have a right under Article 19(1)(g) to carry on their trade and
can be restricted for the purpose of regulation under Article 19(6) of the
Constitution. Hence any action challenging the constitutionality of the same
might not succeed.
To a significant extent the effect of this Act is
dependent on the rules and schemes to be framed and actions taken by the
“Appropriate Government” and the various committees established under the
Act. Hence, any judgement on the merit of this legislation would in our
opinion, be premature.
|
[1] 1986 AIR 180 1985 SCR Supl.
(2) 51[2] (1989) 4 SCC 155
[3] Appropriate Government means - in respect of matters relating to,— (i) a Union territory without Legislature, the Central Government; (ii) the Union territories with Legislature, the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi or, as the case may be, the Government of Union territory of Puducherry; (iii) a State, the State Government;
[4]“Local Authority” means - Municipal Corporation or a Municipal Council or a Nagar Panchayat, by whatever name called, or the Cantonment Board, or as the case may be, a civil area committee appointed under section 47 of the Cantonment Act, 2006 or such other body entitled to function as a local authority in any city or town to provide civic services and regulate street vending and includes the “planning authority” which regulates the land use in that city or town.
[3] Appropriate Government means - in respect of matters relating to,— (i) a Union territory without Legislature, the Central Government; (ii) the Union territories with Legislature, the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi or, as the case may be, the Government of Union territory of Puducherry; (iii) a State, the State Government;
[4]“Local Authority” means - Municipal Corporation or a Municipal Council or a Nagar Panchayat, by whatever name called, or the Cantonment Board, or as the case may be, a civil area committee appointed under section 47 of the Cantonment Act, 2006 or such other body entitled to function as a local authority in any city or town to provide civic services and regulate street vending and includes the “planning authority” which regulates the land use in that city or town.
No comments:
Post a Comment