Bombay High Court to decide on TVC elections amid illegal hawker crackdown

Hawkers encroach on the road and pavement at Borivli station. File pic

The Bombay High court, hearing a suo moto PIL regarding the illegal hawkers menace, is set to take a decision on the elections for the town vending committee (TVC), which will decide the hawking zones in the city, as well as eligibility of hawkers. Meanwhile, the court has directed BMC to continue taking action against illegal hawkers in the 20 designated test drive locations in the city.

The division bench, comprising Justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata, observed that the result of previous TVC election held by the BMC in August 2024 had been stayed by the Supreme Court because of discrepancies in the electoral roll. The court, referring to SC order has asked the BMC counsel to take direction from the relevant officers on the possibility of conducting the TVC elections on the basis of the 2014 electoral roll, which had included 99,000 licenced hawkers eligible for voting.

The BMC counsel, in turn, sought time to take directions from civic officers on the electoral roll, as well as formation of TVCs in each of the seven zones in the city, among other issues. The bench has agreed to provide time for the same and has also asked the BMC officials to continue taking action on the 20 test case sites across the city to keep them hawker-free.