Supreme Court Seeks Clarity on Chandigarh’s Digital System to Report Unauthorised Hawking

In a plea challenging a May 2025 judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Supreme Court, on December 4, 2025, asked the UT of Chandigarh to explain whether it has a functional, city-wide system that allows residents to digitally upload photographs and report unauthorised hawking.

The Special Leave Petition (SLP) concerns the petitioners’ plea seeking removal of street vendors, hawkers, rehri operators and stall owners who had encroached on the main public road in Manimajra, Sector 13.

The bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh said it expected a clear answer on the availability and effectiveness of such a system at the next hearing on December 11, while permitting the petitioners to file their response to the affidavit submitted by the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, pursuant to the court’s earlier direction.

The SLP, filed by President of Manimajra Vyapar Mandal Malkit Singh and the Resident Welfare Association of Manimajra, arises from the May 23, 2025 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and challenges the municipal administration’s implementation of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 in Chandigarh.

According to the petitioners, despite a notified vending plan and the statutory survey undertaken by the Town Vending Committee, several persons who were neither allotted vending sites nor issued licences continued to operate on public streets without authorisation.

They contended that authorised vendors, who received allotments after the statutory survey and licensing process, were facing restrictions and unfair competition because unauthorised persons still occupied pavements and commercial stretches. Repeated representations to the municipal authorities, they said, had not resulted in enforcement action or the removal of illegal vendors, thereby undermining the statutory scheme meant to protect legitimate livelihoods and regulate public spaces.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, however, while dismissing the plea filed by the petitioners, had termed it “motivated” and made adverse remarks against the petitioners.

Before the Supreme Court, the petitioners challenged the high court’s findings, arguing that the court ignored material showing severe congestion and unregulated vending on a road leading to a civil hospital, school and bus stand. They also claimed that many vendors in the area are unlicensed and that the location is not a notified vending zone, yet the high court imposed costs of Rs 50,000 each on them and made personal remarks that, they said, caused public ridicule and emboldened illegal hawking.

At an earlier hearing on November 19, the Supreme Court had directed the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh to file a personal affidavit addressing each issue raised in the petition and ordered that unauthorised vendors who were not allotted sites under the 2014 Act be removed forthwith so that only authorised vendors occupy the designated vending areas. Court had warned that it would summon officers if required and granted two weeks for the affidavit to be filed.

Appearing for the petitioners were Ms. Mallika Prabhakar, assisted by Mr. Navraj Guron and Mr. Anmol Ratan Dhillon, with Mr. Gorang Goyal as the AOR. The respondents were represented by Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Mr. Bhuvan Kapoor, Mr. Varun Chugh, Mr. Santosh Ramdurg and Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR, along with Mr. Shubham Bhalla, AOR, who appeared with Ms. Neha Verma, Ms. Ragini Sharma, Mr. Alex Noel Dass, Mr. Divyansh Misra and Mr. Kamal Joshi.

Case Title: Malkit Singh and Another vs. State of UT Chandigarh and Others

Order Date: December 4, 2025

Bench: Justices Sanjay Karol and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh