National Policy on Urban Street Vendors and its Effect

There are large number informal markets in the developing countries. In India, most of the larger cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Patna etc) have thousands of people working in the informal market in different occupations. One such occupation is street vending or hawking (In strict sense, vendors are those who stick to a place and sell while hawkers are those who move from one place to other for selling. Hawkers are also called peddler or packman). Hereafter, I am using the word vendor for both vendors and hawkers, since the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors (2004) refers to both of them as vendors.

According to an estimate, Mumbai has approximately 250,000 vendors and thus supports the largest number of street vendors, while Delhi, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad have approximately 200,000, 150,000, and 100,000 vendors (National Policy on Urban Street Vendors, 2004). Most of these vendors in Kolkata and Ahmedabad were previously working as laborers in various industries (which closed over the time) in these cities. Vendors often face the threat of being dislocated and their articles confiscated by the city administration, in most part of the country, while earning their livelihood on the urban roads. I am making an effort to understand the importance of the national policy on street vendors in resolving their problems in this blog.

Vendors play an import role in urban sustainability. They provide products/articles at a lower cost to the lower and middle income group. Vendors help people reduce their expenditure also by facilitating purchase of articles, while they are on their way back home or they are exercising a trip for other purposes. In the absence of these vendors, lower and middle class will find it very difficult to sustain their livelihood in urban areas. This will have other implications on the whole equilibrium of an urban society. The absence of vendors will also mean reduction in the availability of manual labor in an urban area, as some of their family members also provide the labor forces for upper income group. Hence, vendors are an integral part of the urban society. They not only earn their livelihood from hawking but also help the lower and middle income group families sustain their lives in the urban areas.

On the negative side, vendors occupy the sides of the road and thus block the pedestrian pathway, if any and sometimes even a part of the road. Thus, they reduce the road capacity by attracting crowd, who come to purchase/glance, towards their articles. This adds to the existing problems of urban transport. Sometimes, these vendors establish permanent shops on unauthorized land or road side creating a challenge for the urban authorities. They also litter the place with disposed articles. Due to these reasons, various government agencies always try to remove them from the urban street. Hence, urban vendors are on one hand beneficial for the society and on the other create nuisance as well.

To understand the importance of the National Policy on Urban Street Vendors in resolving the issues that arise in the urban society, first the issues related to urban vendors need to be understood. The cases involving vendors, heard in the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts have been used to understand the issues related to them. These cases also help us understand and interpret the constitutional obligation of the government towards them (which may change over the years). Thereafter, the draft policy has been analyzed to see how these issues have been dealt with. The final step is to understand the gaps that still remain to be bridged to solve the problem fully.


Let us understand the constitutional obligations of the state towards the people of India and their rights as provided by the Constitution of India.

Article 14 (Equality before law): The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.

Article 19(1)(g): All citizens shall have the right to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.

Article 19(6): Nothing in sub-clause (g) of the said clause [19(1)(g)] shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it imposes, or prevent the State from making any law imposing, in the interests of the general public, reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause, and, in particular, nothing in the said sub-clause shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it relates to, or prevent the State from making any law relating to (i)the professional or technical qualifications necessary for practicing any profession or carrying on any occupation, trade or business, or (ii)the carrying on by the State, or by a corporation owned or controlled by the State, of any trade, business, industry or service, whether to the exclusion, complete or partial, of citizens or otherwise.

Article 21(Protection of life and personal liberty): No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.

Apart from the above mentioned articles, directive principles of the state policy in the schedule IV of the constitution provides guidelines for the state towards the people of India.

The cases, heard by the Supreme Court of India and the various High Courts of India which are discussed here, only relate to the fundamental questions raised and the explanations given by the Courts. The cases have been used to synthesize the issues that vendors are facing in India. I refrain from going into the details of each case and discussing the specific facts of each case.

Sodan Singh and Others vs. New Delhi Municipal Committee and Others (1989 Indlaw SC 213):

The fundamental question that was addressed by the Supreme Court of India, in this case, was whether the rights provided in Article 19(1)(g) and Article 21 of the constitution be restricted by the government under the Article 19(6) of the constitution.

The Court held that vendors have the right to carry out their business for their livelihood on the road sides, as long as they do not interfere with the rights of other people. This means that their rights to carry out road side business can be reasonably restricted depending on the utilization of the road or any other area. Vendors can not ask for a fundamental right to occupy any place permanently and they can only have temporary arrangements without disrupting others. The primary objective of the road is movement of person and goods between two points through some medium. This means that in the current scenario the police can use this judgment to harass the vendors so long as no fixed arrangements are made by the government or the local body.

From the case it can be suggested that the draft policy should provide a reasonable space for the vendors for carrying out their business or help them establish alternate medium for their livelihood.

Olga Tellis and Others Vs Bombay Municipal Corporation and Others (1985 Indlaw SC 161)

This case pertains to slum dwellers. The judgment again held that slum dwellers have no right to erect permanent structure on the road side and they can be removed by the government body. However, under the Article 21 of the constitution, government was asked to make alternative arrangements for these slum dwellers before they are removed. It was recognized that the local body and the government needs to provide them alternate rehabilitation. This case does not directly deal with the rights of the vendors, but the guidelines provided by the courts are also useful for the rights of the vendors.

This case has pointed out making alternate arrangement is as much a duty of the government as much as their removal for the benefit of some other urban population.

Bombay Hawkers' Union and Others Vs Bombay Municipal Corporation and Others (1985 Indlaw SC 191)

In this case the Supreme Court of India provided certain guidelines for the government as well as vendors. Vendors were restricted from creating any permanent structure and were expected to cooperate with the municipal corporation in keeping the roads clean. The government was advised to create hawking zones to avoid discomfort to the other users of the road as well as the vendors.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi Vs Gurnam Kaur (1988 Indlaw SC 703)

The court ordered against the vendors in this case by saying that there was no threat to their life by the removal of their stall in this particular case. However the honorable court went a step further in suggesting that hawkers’ and non hawkers’ zone may be created to avoid this forceful squattering for the vendors. It was suggested that such a move will be able to achieve twin objective of cleaner city and will also reduce the congestion on the road.

Gulamali Gulamnabi Shaik Vs Municipal Commissioner (1986 GLH 616)

The Supreme Court directed the government to frame rules and regulations for vendors for providing them license and space for carrying out their business. This was done to avoid harassment and trouble for vendors. This also provided neater and clear city to other road users.

From the above cases, following issues emerge: (i) Regulation regarding the place where business can be carried out, (ii) Regulation regarding the articles that can be sold by the vendors, (iii) Regulations and procedures regarding eviction of vendors, (iv) Issues of extortion, bribery and harassment of street vendors, and (v)Issues of relocation and rehabilitation

Resolving these issues will help the primary users of the road by proving them cleaner and less crowded roads and at the same time reducing the hassles for vendors.

The National Policy on Urban Street Vendors addresses most of the issues raised earlier and provides a few guidelines. The policy was drafted to provide and promote a supportive environment for earning livelihoods to the street vendors as well as ensure absence of congestion and maintenance of hygiene in public spaces and streets (National Policy on Urban Street Vendors, 2004). The specific sections of this policy is highlighted to understand how these would resolve the issues related to vendors.

The policy has aimed to provide vendors a legal status and to allow them carry out their business in the designated areas. These designated areas are to be called hawkers’ zones and non hawkers’ zones. These zones need to become a part of the planning process (section 4.1.1 of the policy).

The guideline suggests that enough space should be designated for vendors’ at least to the extent of 2% to 2.5 % of the total city population (section 4.2.1 of the policy). The guideline also provides the flexibility to the city with regard to exact norms.

Vendors are also expected to register and should be monitored by the town vending committee/ward vending committee (section 4.1.1). Participation of vendors in the town vending committee/ward vending committee should be ensured. This will help reduce their harassment.

The policy also provides guidelines for relocation and rehabilitation of vendors. Vendors are to be assisted and any loss of assets should be avoided as a part of rehabilitation process.

The policy guideline has also tried to address the issue of confiscation under section 5 where guidelines have been provided to safe guard the interests of the vendors. There is a clear indication that eviction should be the last resort and reasonable time should be given for relocation. They should also be assisted in establishing their business in a new place. Section 8 discusses the insurance and financial problems of the vendors. For financing, NABARD and SJSRY scheme has been indicated in the policy. But the policy fails to recognize that these polices have a limited resources and they may not be concentrating on vendors, thereby making it a promise that will never get executed. For insurance, there is little in the policy. A lot has been left to self help groups and NGOs. This is another area where a structured long term solution needs to be worked out. The policy also talks about the need for changing the sections of IPC and municipal acts so enable the guidelines effectively. However, the guidelines do not talk about any framework or the time period for modification and leaves it open for the states to take any action in this regard.

Thus the guideline addresses most of the issues raised over the years and should have been able to change the status of the street vendors to some extent. However, the guideline has not spelt a framework for enacting some of their guidelines. This failure has been the primary reason for the negligible change over the two years in any part of the country.

Plossible Reasons for Failure

Even after the guidelines provided by the ‘National Policy on Street Vendors’, there has been little change in the status of vendors over the years. A part of the reason could be the policy itself. The policy discusses a lot of things regarding allocating of land, legalization of profession and registration. But the policy has not indicated a time frame or a road map for the same. There is a discussion for the change in the laws related to local bodies and Police Act of various states and sections 283 (Danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation: Whoever, by doing any act, or by omitting to take order with any property in his possession or under his charge, causes danger, obstruction or injury to any person in any public way or public line of navigation, shall be punished with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees) and 431 (Mischief by injury to public road, bridge, river or channel: Whoever commits mischief by doing any act which renders or which he knows to be likely to render any public road, bridge, navigable river or navigable channel, natural or artificial, impassable or less safe for traveling or conveying property, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both) of IPC. However, till date nothing much has been done in this direction i.e. these have not been amended.

Section 283 and Section 431 of IPC provides administration a lethal weapon to use against the vendors. Using these acts, police is able to extract money from the vendors and trouble them. These acts need to be modified as also stated in the policy. Until then, the policy formulated for vendors may not be effective in reducing the harassment for the urban poor. However, while amending the laws, enough precautions need to be taken so that no one should be able to use it to create larger problems for a society. A time frame should be fixed for the changes.

Different urban local bodies (e.g. municipal corporations and urban development authorities) have various laws which are currently used against the vendors. These laws also need to be amended to make the national policy on vendors an effective one. Some of these laws are discussed here.

(i) Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation
Ahmedabad municipal corporation laws allow the arrest of vendors for obstructing the traffic without warrant. They are liable to be fined. The act also does not allow any hawking of goods without a proper license from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. There property can also be removed immediately.

Thus this act allows enough power to the city police and municipal administration. Until such acts are modified the national policy can not be effective. The modification in the act should be carried out along with policy intervention at the local government level to establish a hawkers’ zone and safeguard the interest of the primary users of the road. Registration process should be made simple so that they are encouraged to register.

(ii) Bangalore
Bangalore bylaws have some relief for the vendors. It recognizes the need for identifying separate area for vending and also has provisions for allowing street vending without making the place dirty on certain identified streets. However, there are also regulations regarding the movement of vendors around free spaces and park more driven by need for cleanliness rather than obstruction.

(iii) Bhubaneshwar
Orissa municipality act, 1950 allows for public market at designated places with a fee being paid to the municipality. All participants need to have a license and it can be canceled by the municipality if they find that the particular vendor has not been functioning in accordance with the regulations. Thus, hawkers here have some legal rights. However the registration process needs to be made smooth and less complicated.

(iv) Kolkata
Calcutta municipality act does not allow any hawking activity near any road or free area. Their articles can be seized immediately and the person can be detained. This is surprising, given that a communist government has been in power for a long time in West Bengal.

A few times hawkers have been evicted forcefully confiscating their articles in the past. Quite a few of these hawkers are the previous manual workers of the industries in and around Kolkata which have shut down over the years. Thus, it is the only livelihood for them. The government laws only allow the administration to harass the vendors and extract some illegal money. Thus this law also needs to be modified accordingly.

(v) Mumbai
Municipal Corporation of Mumbai allows for hawking activities with permission and under license from municipality. However, it has been found that there are very few vendors who are registered with Corporation. Most of them run their hawking activities illegally by paying bribe to the local police officers because of the complexities related with registration process. The municipality does not allow for permanent structure even to the licensed persons.

(vi) Patna
The Patna Municipal Corporation Act is also similar to the other acts discussed above. It does not allow any goods to be sold on the road without prior permission of the municipality in the form of a license. Any person obstructing the traffic and any other movement may be arrested without warrant and fined, if found guilty. Thus, this act can be used to harass the vendors and is used to extract money from them illegally. There is a need to modify this act to make it little friendlier for the vendors

My Final Remark
As seen from the various acts that exit in different parts of the country, it is possible to harass the vendors and extract money from them. It is also possible to evict them from the road side without prior notice. In some places, their goods can be confiscated. Thus, just having a National Policy on Vendors will not serve the purpose. As the other local body acts, IPC sections and Police acts can be used against the vendors. There is a need to modify these acts so as to make the National Policy effective.

At a more abstract level, one of the biggest problems in India that I perceive is that new laws/regulations are formed but the laws/regulations in other areas which affect the ensuing law/regulations are not repealed. It is the same story with creation of new organizations to plan/implement a particular task. As a consequence of which, the bureaucracy keeps increasing rather than a reduction in the same as the activities have to pass through all the organization that existed for the purpose earlier as well as the new organization in some form or the other.