Don’t tell me what to eat: Gujarat HC to civic body on food carts seizure

The Gujarat High Court on Thursday rapped the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for seizing carts and merchandise of street vendors and ordered it to consider the cases “expeditiously” if approached by the petitioners within 24 hours for the release of their goods.

The court was hearing a petition by 25 street vendors.

“What is your problem? You don’t like non-veg food, that is your lookout. How can you decide what I eat outside? Tomorrow you will decide what I should eat outside the house? Call the corporation commissioner and ask him what he is doing. Tomorrow they will say I should not have sugarcane juice because it cause diabetes? Or coffee (because it) is bad for health?” a bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav asked the AMC counsel.

The petitioners in the plea had alleged that the municipal corporation seized their carts without any official order and solely on the basis of decisions (to ask vendors to cover non-vegetarian food) taken by the civic bodies in Vadodara, Surat, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Ahmedabad. Ronith Joy, the counsel of the petitioners also told the court that last month the Rajkot Mayor had commented that the sale of non-vegetarian food in open hurts religious sentiments.

Satyam Chhaya, the corporation’s counsel told the court that the plea has been filed due to misconception and the corporation doesn’t plan to remove all non-vegetarian street carts. He said the carts of the said vendors were confiscated not because they were selling non-vegetarian food, but because they had encroached the road causing traffic snarls and inconveniencing pedestrians.

Justice Vaishnav, however, asked Chhaya whether the encroachment drive was being undertaken to target vendors selling non-vegetarian food, instructing him to ensure that the corporation’s commissioner is present in the next hearing.

“Under the guise of implementing something…For example, let’s be very honest, around the Vastrapur lake, if there were hawkers selling eggs and omlette (and) overnight you decide because the party in power decides we don’t want to eat eggs, we want to stop them… you will pick them up and take them away?…why are you doing that?…Ask your corporation commissioner to remain present here…how do you dare to indiscriminately pick up people like this?”

The AMC counsel, however, denied the charge and showed photos of blocked footpaths to corroborate his claims.

Responding to him, Justice Vaishnav said, “If there are encroachments, this has to go…but don’t just confiscate because today morning someone makes a statement that ‘from tomorrow I don’t want egg eateries around me’.”

“Mr Chhaya states that in case the petitioners approach the corporation within 24 hours for releasing their goods and the materials, based on the policy and in accordance with law, their cases shall be considered as expeditiously as possible,” Justice Vaishnav said, while passing an order on the AMC’s submission.