BENGALURU: Noting that public roads were meant for vehicles and citizens, the Karnataka High Court directed the BBMP on Thursday to remove 88 shops that were encroaching the service road adjoining Madiwala-Sarjapura Road.
Observing that such shops cannot be allowed and that the BBMP should remove them, a division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Mohammad Nawaz directed the BBMP to submit their response by September 13 with regard to the time needed for the removal of these shops. However, the HC made it clear that the BBMP cannot disturb street vendors on the said stretch.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by Reggie Thomas and others seeking directions to demolish such shops and directions to implement the Street Vendors (Protection and Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014.
The BBMP filed objections stating that these shops have been running for the past 40 years and the road was widened to 160 ft, of which only 60 ft was being used by shops. The court also directed the BBMP to ensure that there was no garbage on the road.
Meanwhile, the court directed the state government to form Town Vending Committees within six weeks of implementing the Street Vendors Act. The state has to submit an affidavit with regard to the compliance of this direction in six weeks, the court said, while noting that the act was could not be implemented in the state as the government has failed to form the committees. The court said that the act was was meant to regulate vendors.