The Bombay High Court on Thursday rebuked the Maharashtra government for failing to fully implement the provisions of an Act against unauthorised hawkers and instead getting into a blame game with the Mumbai civic body while citizens continue to suffer.

Expressing dismay over non-execution of its orders passed from time to time, the HC cautioned that if forced, then it would not shy away from exercising contempt jurisdiction.

A division bench pointed out that state authorities have failed to implement the provisions of the Street Vendors Act, introduced 10 years ago, even as citizens continue to suffer the menace of unauthorised hawkers and vendors on public roads in the metropolis.

The bench of Justices M S Sonak and Kamal Khata said it was "unfortunate and sad" that the government has not implemented a Parliamentary enactment since 2014, but was instead getting into a blame game with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) over non-cooperation.

"It is very unfortunate and sad that not only is the law not implemented, but even our orders passed from time to time are not followed," the court noted.

"Why this helplessness? The state government says the BMC is not helping... the BMC will blame someone else. Everyone is suffering... Give us an answer as to how you are going to reduce the problem of the common person till such time your scheme is not in place," the court asked.

It asked the state government to formulate such a scheme before September 30.

The HC said if forced, then it would not shy away from exercising contempt jurisdiction.

"We can take the horse to the stream, but we cannot make the horse drink the water. We will take action. If we have to do it, we will not shy away. But first we need to come up with some practical solution," the bench observed.

The high court had last year taken suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the issue of unauthorised hawkers and vendors operating on public roads.

The bench on Thursday noted that the Street Vendors Act mandates the government to formulate a scheme with consultation with the local civic body to deal with the issue.

However, till date no such scheme has been formulated by the state government, it pointed out.

"There are only judgments and laws but there is no implementation. Are you expecting people to suffer daily till then? Pedestrians are suffering, shop owners are suffering, eligible hawkers are suffering. Why should people suffer because of inaction by the authorities?" the HC sought to know.

The bench said the state government and the BMC was making an attempt to cite bureaucratic issues which could have been easily overcome had there been a will to implement the Act.

"The state and the BMC blame each other for the abject failure to comply with the provisions of the Act or to formulate the scheme. We direct the state government to formulate the scheme in consultation with BMC and town vending committee as expeditiously as possible and in any event not later than September 30," the HC said.

The court observed the state Urban Development Department's Principal Secretary will be held responsible for complying with the mandate of the law.

"It is necessary to have one such officer to be held responsible as we find that there is a tendency to find problems. It is the duty of the executive to overcome such difficulties and strictly comply with the mandate of the legislature," the bench noted.

Observing that under no circumstances the formulation of the scheme should be delayed, the bench posted the matter for further hearing on September 2.

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