New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has directed the presence of Police Commissioner, Commissioner of SDMC and Vice Chairman of DDA before it on August 24 if the agencies fail to file their status report in a case concerning hawking at Nehru Place, a no-vending zone, and its maintenance.

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh, which took suo motu cognizance of an incident of fire in a building at Nehru Place, District Commercial Centre, directed the police and SDMC to ensure on a daily basis that there is no hawking and vending resorted to at Nehru Place, District Commercial Centre by any person who does not have an operative order of protection granted by any Court.

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It further ordered that the authorities hold a joint meeting and file status reports on the implementation of the no-hawking, no-vending policy in the area.

“Looking to the urgency of the matter, it is made clear that no further time shall be granted for filing of the status reports to any department. In case, the status reports are not filed, the Commissioner, Delhi Police; Commissioner, SDMC; and Vice Chairman, DDA, as the case may be shall remain present on the next date of hearing,” the court said in its order dated August 13.

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Notice was also issued by the court to the Public Works Department of the Delhi government on the case, asking it to clarify why there was delay in the process of carrying out works in the area.

The court noted that in between high-rise buildings in the area, hawkers and vendors have claimed the pavement area which was meant for circulation of people.

“The enormity of the problem caused by the hawkers and vendors at the Nehru Place area can be seen from a video circulated on social media which shows that it was difficult for the fire tenders to access the building where the fire broke out,” the court added.

Considering that the area was a no-hawking-and- vending zone, the court observed that it was “difficult to understand how a person, who is not protected by court orders, can continue to occupy any space, and hawk or vend without the connivance and blessings of the concerned local authorities”.

The court also said that a video on social media showed “complete lack of any cleanliness or maintenance on the part of the Municipal Authorities”.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)