Clause 78

The Director may with the consent of the Minister and subject to such conditions as he may think fit specify streets or portions thereof, places or areas in which persons shall not act as itinerant hawkers and may require itinerant hawkers or any class of itinerant hawker to be licensed.

The Director may classify itinerant hawkers according to the nature of the goods they sell or in such other manner as he may determine.

Any person who —

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (3) of this section or of any other written law for the time being in force, any police officer or any public officer who, having effected an arrest in accordance with the provisions of this section, is satisfied as to the identity, name and place of residence of the person arrested, may, in his discretion, instead of taking such person before a Court or to a police station serve upon such person a notice requiring such person to attend at the Court described at the hour and on the date specified in such notice and such notice shall be in such form as may be prescribed under section 184 of this Ordinance.

For the purpose of satisfying himself as to the identity of the person arrested, such police officer or public officer may require the person arrested to furnish such evidence of identity as he may deem necessary.

A duplicate copy of the notice referred to in subsection (4) of this section shall be prepared by the police officer or public officer, as the case may be, and by him, if so required by a Court, produced to such Court.

On an accused person appearing before a Court in pursuance of such a notice the Court shall take cognizance of the offence alleged and shall proceed as though he were produced before it in pursuance of subsection (3) of this section.

If a person upon whom such a notice has been served as aforesaid fails to appear before a Court in accordance therewith the Court shall thereupon issue a warrant for the arrest of such person.

Upon a person arrested in pursuance of a warrant issued under subsection (8) of this section being produced before it a Court shall proceed as though he were produced before it in pursuance of subsection (3) of this section and shall at the conclusion of such proceedings call upon him to show cause why he should not be punished for failing to attend in compliance with the notice delivered to him and if cause be not shown may order him to pay such penalty not exceeding two thousand dollars as the Court thinks fit or may commit him to prison for a term not exceeding two months.

Any articles, together with their containers and any accompanying appliances and utensils, exposed for sale in any street or place, otherwise than in a shop, which appear for the time being to be abandoned may be taken into custody by any police officer or public officer authorised as aforesaid and removed to and detained at a police station or Government depôt at the risk of the person to whom they belong, to be forfeited and disposed of in such manner as a Magistrate’s Court deems fit:Provided that any perishable articles likely to decay so taken into custody and removed may be disposed of forthwith:Provided also that if any abandoned articles so taken into custody and detained, other than perishable articles already disposed of, are within forty-eight hours after such taking into custody claimed by the person to whom they belong, such articles shall be returned to such person, but without prejudice to the liability of any such person to be charged for an offence under subsection (3) of this section.

A report shall be made to the Magistrate’s Court of all articles so taken into custody which have not been returned to their owners.

The Magistrate’s Court shall on receiving a report of any abandoned articles order such articles to be forfeited and to be disposed of in such manner as the Court deems fit:Provided that if the Court directs the sale of such articles the proceeds shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

The Magistrate’s Court may, on convicting any person of an offence under subsection (3) of this section, order his photograph to be taken by a police or other photographer. Any such photograph may be preserved and may be produced to any Court for the purpose of establishing identity on a subsequent conviction.

For the purpose of this section “itinerant hawker” means any person who with or without a vehicle, barrow, cart, bicycle or tricycle goes from place to place or to other persons’ houses carrying to sell or exposing for sale any food, drink or goods of any kind.