Delhi HC Upholds Removal of Vendor’s Cart After Vendors Encroached on Over Half the Road, Directs MCD to Find Her Alternative Vending Site

The petitioner held a provisional Certificate of Vending (CoV) for vending food and snacks using a gas cylinder or fire in Najafgarh Zone, Ward S-31.

She sought permission to continue vending at an open space near Gali No. 4, West Sagarpur, without interference

The MCD presented videos and photographs showing vendors occupying more than half the road, obstructing traffic, and failing to move after public announcements.

The MCD stated that the petitioner and other vendors were vending as stationary vendors despite CoV conditions requiring mobile vending, and that their equipment posed safety concerns

The MCD seized the petitioner’s vend and related belongings

The petitioner sought relief from the High Court.

The Court referred to the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, specifically Section 21, providing that the directions would remain subject to any vending plan formulated by the Town Vending Committee–II

It also treated the petitioner’s provisional CoV and its applicable conditions as relevant to the relief granted, including the requirement to comply with the CoV and restrictions on the manner and location of vending

The judgment cited no precedent and did not set out a broader legal test for seizure or removal of vendors.

Having reviewed the MCD’s videos and images, the Court found that vendors had encroached on more than half the road intended for vehicular use and had not cooperated despite repeated announcements to move

In those circumstances, it held that the MCD’s action was justified and declined to interfere

However, because the petitioner held a provisional CoV, the Court directed that she could seek release of her seized goods upon payment of the applicable penalty and required the MCD to identify an alternative vending space

Any permitted vending was made subject to restrictions intended to prevent obstruction, ensure hygiene and safety, and prohibit transfer or subletting of the CoV.

It directed the petitioner to approach the MCD for release of her goods upon payment of the applicable penalty and to appear before the area Assistant Commissioner on 16 November 2026; the Assistant Commissioner was to identify an alternative vending space within one week of the petitioner approaching them

Vending at the alternative site was subject to the stated conditions, the petitioner’s CoV, and any vending plan framed by TVC–II under Section 21 of the 2014 Act; no vested rights could be claimed.

The petition and pending applications were disposed of