Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the BMC and the state to take action against illegal hawkers in Goregaon and file a compliance affidavit, in response to a petition by an association of licensed shopkeepers from the suburb alleging that illegal hawkers were not only taking away their business, but also threatening them.The HC also directed the police to inform what action it proposes to take in relation to the number of complaints filed over the years, and if it had considered externment as a viable option.The Goregaon Merchants Association’s public interest litigation (PIL), filed through advocate Bahraiz Irani, argued that the rise in unauthorised hawkers raised serious concerns of physical safety of licensed shops.The division bench, headed by Justice A S Gadkari, was also hearing a 2023 suo motu PIL on ways to tackle the hawkers issue, including the obstruction of pavements and a bunch of other petitions. Advocate Jamshed Mistry, amicus curiae (friend of court) appointed by the HC in the suo motu PIL, said the BMC has to enforce the 2014 Street Vendors’ Act, which requires committees and a new scheme.Irani on Wednesday submitted that shopkeepers had been filing complaints since 1996 and presented a compilation of 150 complaints, including those submitted by local corporators. For state, government pleader Purnima Kantharia expressed the machinery’s helplessness to register every complaint. But Irani cited provisions under law to say the police could invoke the externment clause on some against whom there may be repeated complaints. The HC posed the question to the police on what action it proposes.The PIL claimed that in 2020 and 2025, a few hawkers pelted stones at the association’s joint secretary Firdaus Irani’s car, and in 2024-2025, they encroached upon verandas of several licensed shops. The HC had earlier given time to the BMC to inform it of steps taken to announce the Town Vending Committee election result for Mumbai pursuant to the court’s decision.
