HC Orders BMC to Probe Multiple Hawker Licences Issued to Goregaon West Family
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to investigate alleged large-scale irregularities in the issuance of hawker licences in Goregaon West. The directive came after it was revealed that three members of a single family were granted hawker licences despite owning multiple shops near the local railway station.
A Bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata ordered the civic body to explain within two weeks how the licences were issued and outline its proposed actions against the family.
The issue was brought to light by Goregaon resident advocate Ashish Dube, who filed a complaint alleging that a local family had obtained three official hawker licences by suppressing material facts and filing false undertakings.
Following a court-ordered inquiry, the Goregaon Police confirmed the allegations on Tuesday. The police report stated that the licences had been issued to 84-year-old Ramdeniprasad Kandu and his two sons.
The inquiry further revealed that the family owned five shops near the Goregaon West railway station and had rented some of them out for Rs 85,000 per month while continuing to operate as licensed hawkers. The family was also allegedly utilizing a licence reserved for persons with disabilities.
While the official municipal policy permits only one hawker licence per family, the police report revealed that 129 individuals from 85 families in the Goregaon West railway station area had been granted licences. Dube additionally claimed that 129 hawkers from 55 families had secured eligibility through false undertakings.
Expressing concern over the findings, the High Court bench questioned if similar irregularities exist among the 99,435 hawker licences issued across Mumbai.
The court also criticized the BMC's AI-based grievance redressal system. Amicus curiae Jamshed Mistry informed the bench that registering a complaint against illegal hawkers took nearly 45 minutes, with complainants receiving no information about subsequent actions. Justice Kamal Khata noted that Mumbaikars would stop filing complaints if the process remained so time-consuming, suggesting that complaints should be handled directly by officials.
