The Meghalaya and Greater Shillong Progressive Hawkers and Street Vendors Association has been made a party respondent into a PIL over unregulated street vending and the related challenges it poses to the urban infrastructure of Shillong.
A division bench of Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh while hearing a PIL filed by Philip Khrawbok Shati and Andrew Aibok Jyrwa said, “The scope of this public interest litigation (PIL), now involves identifying street vending areas, relocating areas permitted to be used for street vending, regulation of traffic in general, allocating and relocating parking spaces, clearance of as much road area as possible to allow free movement of vehicles and overall implementation of policies and plans to make the capital of Meghalaya-Shillong region, a modern, clean and well administered city.”
Earlier the Urban Affairs Commissioner and Secretary filed an action taken report on all policies, plans and proposals that included demarcation of parking and no-parking zones, acquisition of 35 state of the art buses to reduce private transport on the city roads and Shared Mobility Initiative (STEMS) project to enable school children to avail of buses to go to school, to reducing vehicular traffic, identification and regulation of parking zones, street vending areas and to prevent road rule violation by drivers, punishment for offenders.
“It is quite detailed with several documents and photographs as annexures. The said report is taken on record,” the court said.
The court also allowed the petitioner to file an affidavit after studying the report by May 15, 2025.
