Rajnesh Singh Vs Municipal Corporation of Delhi — Writ and Judicial Review | Delhi HC (2026)

Rajnesh Singh Vs Municipal Corporation of Delhi — Writ and Judicial Review | Delhi HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Petition disposed of: Petitioner permitted to operate his vend at the vending site subject to stated conditions (small/medium gas cylinder only; confinement to his space without encroachment; cleanliness/hygiene with dustbin; bar on third-party interest, subletting or handing over possession; no permanent or temporary construction); Condition No. 11 of the CoV not to apply to him; MCD free to remove the vend in accordance with law on violation; directions subject to any TVC-II plan under Section 21 of the Street Vendors Act, 2014; surprise inspection and compliance report directed; pending applications, if any, disposed of; listed for compliance on 22 May 2026.

Issue for consideration

Whether the MCD officials must allow the Petitioner, a Certificate of Vending holder, to peacefully vend at his vending site opposite B-42, Bus Stand, Block-10, Malviya Nagar, Delhi (South Zone, Ward S-63). +1 more

Court's answer

Since the Petitioner's CoV category is 'Food/Snack with Gas Cylinder/Fire', the Petitioner is permitted to run the vend at the vending site subject to conditions: only a small or medium sized gas cylinder may be used for heating food/snacks; the Petitioner must confine himself to his space and not encroach on pedestrian areas or obstruct pedestrians; he must maintain cleanliness and hygiene around the vend and keep a dustbin nearby; he shall not create any third-party interest in the provisional CoV, sublet it or hand over possession to any third party; and no permanent or temporary construction shall be erected.

Ratio / Principle

Subject to the above conditions, Condition No. 11 of the CoV shall not apply to the Petitioner; the Petitioner shall comply with all the other conditions in the CoV.

Key takeaways

Persons running vends have a bounden obligation to maintain cleanliness around the vend and not to completely occupy the pavement or the road in front of the vend.ratio¶9
On violation of the conditions — for instance, putting up stools or failing to keep the vending site clean — the MCD is at liberty to remove the vend of the Petitioner in accordance with law.ratio¶14
The directions are subject to any plan which the Town Vending Committee–II may come up with in terms of Section 21 of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, and no vested rights shall be claimed.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Street vending — Certificate of Vending holder obstructed by MCD — permitted to vend subject to conditions; exemption from Condition No. 11 (30-minute limit for mobile vendors). The Petitioner, a street vendor vending since before 2014 from a site in Malviya Nagar (South Zone, Ward S-63) under CoV URI No. 2175961, category 'Food/Snack with Gas Cylinder/Fire', complained that MCD officials were not allowing him to peacefully vend. Following its earlier directions in W.P.(C) 19391/2025 (Mohd Badruddin v. MCD & Ors.), W.P.(C) 15082/2025 (Rajendra Singh v. Commissioner of Police and Ors.) and W.P.(C) 1609/2026 (Rihana v. MCD & Ors.), the High Court (Prathiba M. Singh and Madhu Jain, JJ.) permitted him to run the vend subject to conditions: small or medium gas cylinder only; no encroachment on pedestrian areas; cleanliness and hygiene with a dustbin; no third-party interest, subletting or handing over possession of the provisional CoV; no construction. Condition No. 11 of the CoV (mobile vendors shall not stay/vend more than 30 minutes at a place) was held not to apply to him, subject to compliance with all other CoV conditions. On violation (e.g., putting up stools or failing to keep the site clean), MCD may remove the vend in accordance with law. Directions are subject to any plan of Town Vending Committee–II under Section 21 of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, with no vested rights claimable. A surprise inspection by MCD officials and a compliance report were directed; petition disposed of and listed for compliance on 22 May 2026.

$~53

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Date of decision: 19^th March, 2026 Uploaded on: 20^th March, 2026

W.P.(C) 3557/2026

RAJNESH SINGH .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Sanjay Baniwal, Ms. Manisha and Mr. R. K. Seewal, Advs. versus

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF DELHI .....Respondent

Through: Ms. Meherunnisa Anand and Mr. Sirish Gupta Advs. for MCD.

CORAM: JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUSTICE MADHU JAIN

Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)

This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

The present petition has been filed by the Petitioner-Mr. Rajnesh Singh under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, inter alia , seeking directions to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (hereinafter, ‘MCD’) to allow the Petitioner to peacefully vend from the vending site opposite B-42, Bus Stand, Block- 10, Malviya Nagar, Delhi- 110017, South Zone, Ward- S- 63 (hereinafter, ‘the vending site’) .

The case of the Petitioner is that he is a street vendor who is stated to be vending from the vending site since before 2014. The Petitioner was issued a Certificate of Vending (hereinafter, ‘CoV’) bearing URI No. 2175961 under the category 'Food/ Snack with Gas Cylinder/ Fire' , by the MCD for the

Signature Not Verified

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South Zone, Ward S-63.

However, the grievance of the Petitioner in the present petition is that the concerned officials of the MCD are not allowing the Petitioner to peacefully vend at the vending site.

The photograph placed on record by the Petitioner is set out below:

Ld. Counsel for the Petitioner also submits that the Petitioner has disability in the left upper limb. Reliance is placed upon the disability certificate dated 19th September, 2025 issued by the Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital, Khirki Extension, Malviya Nagar.

On behalf of the Respondent-MCD, Ms. Meherunnisa Anand, ld. Counsel, has placed on record certain photographs to show that various stools are placed next to the vend of the Petitioner at the vending site. It is further shown that the pavement area at the vending site is blocked and garbage has accumulated and is not being properly cleared by the Petitioner. The requisite standards of cleanliness and hygiene are not being maintained by the

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Petitioner.

The photographs placed on record by the MCD are set out below:

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The Court has considered the matter. Clearly, there is a bounden obligation upon persons who are running vends to maintain cleanliness

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around the vend and not completely occupy the pavement or the road in front of the vend.

Recently, in a similar matter i.e., in W.P.(C) 19391/2025 titled Mohd Badruddin v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi & Ors., a vendor with a provisional CoV, who was also entitled to vend ‘Food/Snacks with gas cylinder/fire’ , has been exempted by this Court to comply with Condition No. 11 of the CoV.

The said Condition No. 11 of the COV reads as under:

“11. Mobile vendors shall not stay or vend more than 30 minutes or time prescribed by the TVC at place in a vending/squatting zone.”

After hearing ld. Counsels appearing for the parties and perusing the CoV of the Petitioner, as also the photographs, this Court is inclined to pass the similar directions as have been passed in similar matters being W.P.(C) 19391/2025 titled ‘ Mohd Badruddin v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi & Ors.’ , W.P.(C) 15082/2025 titled ‘ Rajendra Singh v. Commissioner of Police and Ors’. and in W.P. (C) 1609/2026 titled ‘Rihana v. MCD & Ors.’ 13. Since the category of the Petitioner is ' Food/ Snack with Gas Cylinder/ Fire' , the Petitioner is permitted to run the vend at the vending site, subject to the following conditions:

i. The Petitioner shall be permitted to operate his vend, but shall use a gas cylinder which does not occupy too much space. It is made clear that only a small or medium sized gas cylinder for heating of food and snacks shall be used by the Petitioner;

ii. The Petitioner shall restrict himself to a particular space, where he is operating from, and shall not extend/encroach to the

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pedestrian areas or cause obstruction in movement of pedestrians;

iii. The Petitioner shall also be obliged to maintain cleanliness and hygiene around the vend, which he is working from and shall ensure the presence of a dustbin near the vend;

iv. Subject to the above, Condition No.11 in the CoV shall not apply to the Petitioner. The Petitioner shall comply with all the other conditions in the CoV.

v. It shall be ensured that the Petitioner shall not create any thirdparty interest in this provisional CoV and there shall be a bar on sub-letting or any handing over possession to any third party.

vi. No permanent or temporary construction shall also be erected by the Petitioner.

If there is any violation of the aforesaid conditions by the Petitioner and if the Petitioner puts up stools or does not keep the vending site clean, the MCD is at liberty to remove the vend of the Petitioner in accordance with law. 15. The above stated directions shall be subject to any plan which the Town Vending Committee–II may be coming up with in terms of Section 21 of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 and no vested rights shall be claimed.

Let a surprise inspection be conducted by the concerned officials of the MCD and a compliance report be filed in this regard.

The present petition is disposed of in the said terms. Pending applications, if any, are also disposed of

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List for compliance on 22^nd May, 2026.

PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUDGE

MADHU JAIN JUDGE

MARCH 19, 2026/b/sm

Signature Not Verified

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