Friday, 04 November 2022 | PNS | NAINITAL
The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) to clear garbage from the space allocated for the weekly Sunday market and submit a report along with photographs of the site in the court so that the weekly market can be set up. The division bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice RC Khulbe issued this direction while hearing a petition filed regarding the weekly Sunday market in Dehradun. The petition will be taken up for hearing next on December 1. It will be recalled that in the past the court had directed that the site allocated for the Sunday market on Haridwar bypass road should be cleared of garbage within three weeks and made available to the vendors for setting up the weekly Sunday market.
According to the case details, Dehradun’s Weekly Sunday Market Welfare Association head Heera Lal had filed a petition in the High Court stating that the weekly Sunday market was being held near the Tibetan market adjoining the Parade Ground in Dehradun since 2004. More than 300 traders had been setting up stalls in this weekly market while also paying Rs 300 per shop rent to the MCD on a monthly basis. The petitioner stated that in 2004, the Dehradun district magistrate had allocated the site near the Tibetan market for setting up the Sunday market. However, the MCD and the local administration cited an order passed by the High Court in a public interest litigation to remove the Sunday market from the said location. The petitioner has contended that some well connected persons were also allocated shops by the MCD in another location. It is further stated in the petition that the regular market remains closed on Sunday and the traffic load is also comparatively less. Considering this, the traders had been setting up stalls in the Sunday market near the Tibetan market adjoining the Parade Ground. The traders also used to clean the location themselves, the petitioner stated. It is further averred in the petition that the Sunday market provides the poor an opportunity to purchase cheap items while also providing employment to many. The petitioner has also contended that another committee with a similar name is being run at the location along with municipal officials. It should be investigated and action should be taken against it, the petitioner further states.
