AAP Tax Law

The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014

First Schedule: Plan for Street Vending

The First Schedule, read with Section 21, sets out how local street-vending plans must accommodate existing vendors, protect pedestrian movement, identify suitable vending spaces and regulate the designation of no-vending zones.

It is a statutory framework for planning, not a blanket permission to vend at any location. Actual arrangements must be considered with the applicable plan, notified scheme, survey and lawful local decisions.

1. Objectives of the plan: First Schedule, paragraph (1)

The plan for street vending must meet six statutory objectives:

  1. Accommodating surveyed vendors. It must ensure accommodation of existing street vendors identified by the survey, subject to the norm corresponding to 2.5% of the population of the relevant ward, zone, town or city. This is a planning norm, not an automatic individual allotment of a particular site.
  2. Free passage. Commuters must be able to move freely and use roads without impediment.
  3. Natural markets. Vending space must be reasonable and consistent with existing natural markets, recognising places where buyers and sellers have traditionally gathered.
  4. Civic facilities. The plan must account for the civic facilities needed for appropriate use of identified vending areas.
  5. Accessible distribution. Planning should encourage convenient, efficient and cost-effective distribution of goods and services.
  6. Other scheme matters. The plan must address additional matters specified in the applicable scheme to give effect to street-vending planning.

Meaning of natural market: Under the Act, this generally refers to a market where sellers and buyers have traditionally congregated for the sale and purchase of goods or services, as determined through the statutory process.

2. Matters the plan must contain: paragraph (2)

The First Schedule requires all five of the following components:

  1. Spatial planning norms: objective standards for how vending activity fits into public space.
  2. Earmarked vending areas: identification of particular spaces or areas as vending zones.
  3. Classification of zones: determination of restriction-free-vending zones, restricted-vending zones and no-vending zones.
  4. Current and future capacity: spatial plans adequate for the existing number of vendors and anticipated future growth, using appropriate planning norms.
  5. Changes to other plans: necessary modifications to master plans, development plans, zonal plans, layout plans or other planning instruments to accommodate vendors in designated zones.

These requirements connect the street-vending plan to broader urban planning. Classification and restrictions must follow the Act and the applicable notified plan rather than informal designations alone.

3. Safeguards when declaring a no-vending zone: paragraph (3)

A no-vending zone is an area designated under the street-vending plan where vending is not permitted. Its declaration is subject to five express statutory principles:

  1. Protect existing and natural markets. An existing market or natural market identified in the survey must not be declared a no-vending zone.
  2. Minimise displacement. The declaration must displace the smallest practicable percentage of street vendors.
  3. Overcrowding alone is insufficient. Congestion cannot by itself justify a no-vending declaration. However, certificates may be restricted for persons not identified as street vendors in the survey.
  4. Sanitation must be addressed proportionately. Sanitary concerns cannot justify such a declaration unless they are attributable solely to vendors and cannot be remedied by suitable civic action by the local authority.
  5. No premature declaration. Until the survey is carried out and the street-vending plan is formulated, no zone may be declared a no-vending zone under this Schedule.

The rules concerning no-vending declarations should be read alongside the Act's survey, certificate, relocation and eviction provisions, including Section 18.

4. How the First Schedule works in practice

Who prepares the plan?

Section 21 provides for the local authority to prepare the plan for street vending, in consultation with the planning authority and on the recommendations of the Town Vending Committee, at the intervals prescribed by the Act. The First Schedule defines what that plan must achieve and include.

What is the difference between a plan, a scheme and bye-laws?

The plan addresses spatial arrangements and zones under Section 21 and the First Schedule. The scheme under Section 38 deals with administrative and operational matters described in the Second Schedule. Bye-laws under Section 37 regulate specified local aspects of vending, subject to the Act, rules and scheme.

Can a natural market be prohibited merely because it is busy?

No. The First Schedule expressly protects surveyed natural markets against classification as no-vending zones and rejects overcrowding as a standalone ground. That does not dispense with lawful regulation of pedestrian access, public health or individual certificate conditions.

Official legislation and resources

For a particular locality, also consult the relevant State or Union Territory rules, notified scheme, approved vending plan and applicable local bye-laws. This article explains the statutory First Schedule; it does not replace the official legal text.