3 min readMumbaiJun 30, 2026 10:15 PM IST
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday informed the Bombay High Court (HC) that of the over 99,000 surveyed hawkers in the city protected by orders of the Supreme Court and the HC, more than 47,000 have been issued identity cards with QR codes so that illegal hawkers can be identified and action taken against them.
While the civic body said it had provided a WhatsApp number for citizens to lodge complaints regarding illegal hawking, one of the petitioners submitted that it took more than 40 minutes to navigate the complaint mechanism for illegal hawking in Colaba, which generated only automated responses.
“If the AI chatbot is responding (without monitoring by a senior officer), it will take an hour or so to lodge a complaint. Time is money in a city like Mumbai. It will not serve the purpose,” the judges orally remarked, asking the authorities to look into the issue. Advocate Jamshed Mistry, appointed by the HC as amicus curiae (friend of the court), suggested that the state constitute a grievance redressal committee to address the problem.
The petitioners contended that the WhatsApp chatbot had become a complaint-deterrent mechanism, generating only automated responses instead of ensuring quick grievance redressal under the supervision of a senior officer, as directed by the court.
The BMC also assured the HC that it would examine the issue raised by one of the petitioners regarding the issuance of identity cards to hawkers who had allegedly transferred licences illegally or obtained them by producing incorrect documents before the civic body.
A bench of Justices Ajey S. Gadkari and Kamal R. Khata was hearing pleas raising concerns over unauthorised hawkers and stalls in Mumbai and seeking strict implementation of earlier court directions regulating street vending.
On May 6, the HC directed the state government and the BMC to issue QR code-enabled identity cards (smart cards or chip cards) within five weeks to the 99,435 hawkers already surveyed under earlier HC orders. It also directed the BMC to set up, at the earliest, an e-portal and provide a WhatsApp number, monitored by a senior officer, for citizens to lodge complaints.
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The court had clarified that the identity cards would be issued as the hawkers were protected by court orders, while their eligibility would be independently determined after the formation of the Town Vending Committee (TVC) and in accordance with law. On June 10, it granted the BMC an additional three weeks to comply.
Senior advocate Anil Singh, appearing for the BMC, informed the court that QR code-enabled identity cards had been issued to 47,723 of the 99,435 surveyed hawkers (47.99%). He added that while 13,772 hawkers had been contacted by the authorities, they did not visit the designated offices, while the contact numbers of 2,755 hawkers were found to be unreachable.
Singh also submitted that the BMC would not wait for further directions from the HC if any hawker was found operating in violation of the Supreme Court’s guidelines.
The HC was further informed that the civic body had given wide publicity to its e-portal, email address and WhatsApp number for citizens to lodge complaints against illegal hawking.
The matter will be heard next on July 14.
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