Sector 19 vendors are claiming they were not given licences as they did not have Chandigarh Aadhaar. (File pho... Read More

CHANDIGARH: As many as 22 street vendors of Sector 19 have moved the Punjab and Haryana high court calling the decision of the municipal corporation (MC) of not allotting them vending licences on the ground that they did not possess a UT Aadhaar card arbitrary and illegal.

The court issued notices to the civic body, its enforcement wing, estate office and chairperson of the Town Vending Committee, seeking their reply by February 10.

The petitioners said they have been earning their livelihood from Sector 19 for last 15 years. They said a survey was conducted and they received an acknowledgement from the MC on their respective mobile phones. The petitioners said the MC was not issuing them licences in violation of the provisions of The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.

R S Randhawa, the counsel for the petitioners, argued the authorities are trying to displace the petitioners in contravention and disregard to provisions of the act. He said the rejection of their applications was a violation of Section 3 of the act, which provides for a survey of all existing street vendors. "Their names were not included in the list of registered vendors although they were running vends for more than decade," he said.

The counsel argued the survey was conducted from July 18, 2016, to August 31, 2016, and the registration was conducted from October 3, 2017 to September 25, 2018, a time when there were no by-laws and no condition of having a Chandigarh-based Aadhaar card. The by-laws came into existence on December 20, 2018, he said.

