‘Shiv Vada Pavs’ get 12-week cutoff
In a major blow to the Shiv Sena, the Bombay high court has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take action against illegal Shiv Vada Pav stalls, functioning across Mumbai. The court also asked the state to submit a report on action taken withing 12 weeks.
The Shiv Sena rules the BMC and the Shiv Vada Pav campaign was launched by party president Uddhav Thackeray a few years ago to provide employment for Marathi youths in the city.
A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Sonak was hearing a public interest litigation filed by NGO Janseva Mandal, which alleged that there were over 250 Shiv Vada Pav stalls across the city operating without licence to cook food on the roadside.
The petition also stated that these stalls and carts don’t maintain cleanliness while preparing food, which will cause serious health problems to citizens. The petitioner’s lawyer Umesh Mohite argued that “Shiv Vada Pav scheme was launched without any authentication of civic officials and the scheme was launched without following any procedure required to be followed for launching.”
The petition stated that the state government launched a scheme named ‘Zunkha Bhakar Kendra’ in 1995, to provide wholesome food at subsidised rates to the people. The scheme was dropped in the year 2000 owing to blatant misuse by stall operators. The same year, a new scheme titled ‘Shiv Vada Pav’’ was floated, but was not approved. Despite this, stalls and carts mushroomed across the city. The petition sought directions to the BMC to remove all such illegal Shiv Vada Pav stalls.
The petition pointed out that in 2015, another bench of the HC had banned cooking in illegal stalls and carts in the city, as it was not permissible under Food Safety Rules.
The bench directed the civic body to take action against all those stalls that are operating without licence from the authority concerned and submit a compliance report after 12 weeks.