Vendors selling fake goods may lose licence

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 17

A five-member committee of councillors, formed by Mayor Davesh Moudgil, has suggested to cancel the licences of vendors who sell pirated or the fake goods.

The committee was headed by the former Mayor, Rajbala Malik, to review and suggest necessary changes in the draft bylaws for the vendors issued by the Municipal Corporation.

Sources said the committee held its first meeting on Tuesday after The Tribune highlighted the delay in the implementation of the Vendors Act by the councillors. The delay in the implementation of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act 2014 has also led to the increase in the numbers of the vendors in the city.

The committee comprises the members Mahesh Inder Singh Sidhu, Charanjiv Singh, Gurbux Rawat, Rajbala Malik and Ravi Kant Sharma. They met on Tuesday and discussed the draft bylaws and suggested many changes.

Sources said recommendations of the committee, along with the draft bylaws would be placed before the General House in its meeting which is to be held in the last week of the month. The bylaws will cover all aspects from the procedure of the registration, fees for the applications and penalty for the violations .

To curb the sale of the pirated and the fake goods the committee has added the provision to cancel the license of those vendors who will found selling these things. The committee has also reduced the limit of the no-vending zone from government buildings from 100 meters to 50 meters. It has also recommended to increase the penalty for the various violations by almost 100 per cent which have been mentioned in the draft bylaws.

The committee has recommended to reduce the annual increase in the license fees from 10 per cent to 5 per cent and also suggested rebate for those who deposit the fees in advance.