A bench of the Bombay High Court—comprising Justice A S Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata—while hearing a suo motu PIL on the growing issue of illegal hawking in the city, once again aimed sharp criticism at the BMC for its inept handling of the situation. The court pointed out the persistent presence of hawkers despite the BMC council’s claim of repeated removal, highlighting the failure to implement action on the ground. The court also suggested that the state consider deploying the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) to assist BMC officials during operations against illegal hawkers.

In a sharp rebuke to the BMC, Justice Gadkari initially offered to hold back the matter for 10 minutes and direct senior BMC officials responsible for keeping the roads hawker-free to take a round and see if the orders were implemented. But the BMC counsel, after a short argument, finally admitted that the civic body failed to keep the city 100 per cent hawker-free, which is when Justice Gadkari decided to continue the hearing without taking a 10 minutes pause.