Delhi HC Denies Vendor’s Plea After Five-Year Delay, Finding He Used MCD Sanitation Room To Vend Without A Certificate of Vending

The petitioner sought a direction permitting him to vend at a claimed designated spot on Nizamuddin Railway Station Road. He relied on a 2021 survey receipt and an MCD website list that included his name, and said he had applied for a Certificate of Vending (CoV).

MCD disputed that he was a verified vendor, noting that he had not participated in the 2025 survey and had no CoV. It also alleged that he had occupied an MCD sanitation room for vending and was not maintaining cleanliness and hygiene.

The petition was brought in 2026, approximately five years after the survey on which the petitioner relied.

The petitioner invoked Article 226 of the Constitution and Clause 1.2 of the Vending Scheme, which, as described by the petitioner, required MCD to issue a CoV within six months.

The Court referred to the usual provisional CoV conditions, including requirements concerning cleanliness and hygiene and the restriction on using a big gas cylinder.

The Court considered the petitioner’s delay in approaching it—five years after the 2021 survey—and noted that he did not appear to have participated in the 2025 survey.

It also found, on the photographs placed by MCD, that the petitioner had occupied the MCD sanitation room for private commercial activity and was not maintaining proper cleanliness and hygiene.

Since no provisional CoV had been issued and the petitioner’s manner of vending was inconsistent with the applicable conditions, the Court declined to grant relief permitting him to vend as claimed.

It directed that, if the petitioner had participated in the 2021 survey after constitution of TVC-II, TVC-II should consider his case within two months.

MCD remained free to take action in accordance with law concerning the alleged occupation of the sanitation room and non-compliance with cleanliness and hygiene requirements.