Malkit Singh v. State of U.T. Chandigarh
Background
This is an ongoing, Supreme Court-supervised matter concerning street vendors and encroachment in Chandigarh, in which the Court has been reviewing periodic compliance affidavits from the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and Administration on relocating vendors to designated zones, cancelling licenses for non-payment of fees, and providing basic amenities at vending sites. In this hearing, the amicus curiae raised concerns that the Administration's anti-encroachment drives (thousands of challans issued, over 6,800 vending licences cancelled) were not being matched by genuine rehabilitation of displaced vendors, and separately challenged a 2020, COVID-era notification that had broadened who counts as an "Essential Service Provider" entitled to special vending privileges.
Decision Breakdown
The Court issued a detailed set of directions to the Chandigarh authorities: promptly shift licensed vendors to identified zones with proper signage and public amenities, issue smart identity cards linked to police stations, install CCTV cameras within six months, set up helplines, and decide all pending vendor appeals within 60 days (30 days for future ones). Separately, agreeing with the amicus that the pandemic-era justification no longer existed, the Court quashed the 17 July 2020 notification that had expanded the "Essential Service Provider" category to include general food vendors (such as those selling chhole bhature) and extended their permitted trading hours, restoring the original, narrower 2018 bye-law definition.
Lesson Learnt
Special regulatory concessions granted to meet an emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, are not meant to be permanent. Once the emergency that justified them has passed, courts can and will withdraw such relaxations, even as they continue to hold civic authorities to concrete, time-bound obligations toward the livelihoods of those affected by enforcement action.