Delhi High Court Directs Clearance of Unauthorised Street Vendors at Anand Vihar ISBT
The Delhi High Court has issued a significant directive for the removal of all unauthorised street vendors operating outside the Anand Vihar Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT), citing severe congestion and repeated violations of vending regulations in an area that serves lakhs of passengers daily.
Strict Conditions for Authorised Vendors
Only 105 vendors—those found eligible during an official survey and holding provisional certificates of vending (CoV)—will be permitted to continue their operations, and that too under stringent conditions. The court's decision stems from a long-pending survey conducted by the town vending committee under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.
The survey revealed that even many of the 105 eligible vendors had exceeded the limits of their provisional permissions, erecting permanent, shop-like structures that encroached upon pedestrian pathways and choked access roads. The high court noted, "The pictures extracted above clearly show that most of the hawkers have created permanent vends and they are no longer merely hawkers."
Critical Transit Hub and Non-Hawking Area
The court emphasized that Anand Vihar is not just another marketplace but a critical transit hub where the ISBT, Indian Railways, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, and the nearby Kaushambi bus stand collectively generate massive daily footfall. It observed, "Clearly, the hawkers in the Anand Vihar bus stand area are not adhering to the conditions of the CoVs issued to them. Moreover, any main road of this nature is a non-hawking area in terms of the policy of MCD."
Even the recognised vendors will be restricted to mobile carts and vends, with no permanent structures permitted. After the clearance drive, these vendors may approach the assistant commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for guidance on how and where their carts can be placed.
Implementation Timeline and Legal Background
According to the latest directions, the MCD is expected to begin action from January 31. Officials stated that vendors would be given five to six days to remove their goods. Badal Kumar, MCD deputy commissioner at Shahdara south zone, said, "We will take appropriate steps to inform the vendors of the court's direction."
An interim stay was granted in 2016 when the court restrained the MCD from taking coercive action against 114 hawkers associated with a petitioner association. Anil Bakshi, secretary of the National Hawker Federation, which filed an application in 2017, stated that they would pursue the matter in the Supreme Court.
Redevelopment and Beautification Plans
In addition to the clearance directive, the high court has directed the MCD to re-plan and beautify the entire stretch. This includes creating service roads for autos, cabs, and rickshaws to ease traffic chaos, ensuring free movement for pedestrians, and developing landscaped, tiled spaces.
The plan may also incorporate organised shops, cafes, sanitation facilities, and resting areas without disturbing passenger movement. The MCD was asked to prepare a detailed redevelopment and beautification plan with the help of an architect and submit it to the court by March 10. The court suggested that the MCD could take the assistance of a Public Works Department (PWD) architect for this purpose.
This comprehensive order aims to address the persistent issues of congestion and regulatory non-compliance at one of Delhi's busiest transit points, balancing the needs of vendors with public safety and urban planning.
