The Permanent Lok Adalat (Public Utility Services), Union Territory, Chandigarh, has directed the Chandigarh Chief Secretary, Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner and Secretary, Punjab Mandi Board, to ensure the installation of display boards showing daily rates of vegetables and fruits at the entry points of Apni and Kisan Mandis organised in different sectors of the city.The Permanent Lok Adalat has also directed the authorities to level the grounds and install pavers and footpaths in a proper and systematic manner at both types of mandis to ensure proper sanitation and the safety of visitors. Observing that the matter had been ignored in a recalcitrant manner, the PLA deemed it fit and proper to appoint a senior retired judicial officer to oversee compliance with its directions.The PLA appointed Ashok Kapoor (Retired), Additional District and Sessions Judge, as the nodal officer to ensure compliance with the directions. It also directed the authorities concerned to take the necessary steps within a stipulated timeframe.The Permanent Lok Adalat passed the order on an application filed by Gagandeep Singh through advocate Sukhwinder Singh, seeking directions to ensure that visitors were not fleeced and were provided proper facilities and sanitation at Kisan Mandis. The applicant sought directions to level the grounds, paths and walkways and install pavers and footpaths in a proper and systematic manner at both Apni and Kisan Mandis. He also sought the installation of display boards showing daily rates of vegetables and fruits.The applicant stated that the Chandigarh Administration had introduced schemes such as Kisan Mandis and Apni Mandi at various locations in the city in the 1980s to supply food items to residents at controlled and reasonable rates.These mandis are organised at open, reserved vacant sites in different parts of Chandigarh with the permission of the Chandigarh Administration. The Administration has overall and final control over their functioning, while the Punjab Mandi Board and the MC, Chandigarh, organise the respective mandis.It was submitted that these sites lacked proper ground surfaces, adequate parking facilities and systematically planned pathways for visitors purchasing vegetables and other household items. People were forced to park their vehicles along roadsides due to inadequate parking facilities, particularly in Sectors 15, 24, 34, 40, 43 and 49.The applicant further alleged that challans were routinely issued for violations, including overcharging and the sale of poor-quality produce.The Chandigarh Administration had allegedly failed to issue directions requiring vendors to display their names and proper identities on their rehris, pharis, street-vending carts or vehicles parked at the mandis or operating in Chandigarh under MC licences. As a result, licensed vendors had allegedly handed over their rehris and pharis to unlicensed vendors at higher rates, who were then charging considerably more from the public.The applicant also alleged that the Chandigarh Administration had failed to frame rules requiring vendors to display their identities on vehicles or wear a prescribed uniform, which he said was necessary to distinguish genuine licensed vendors from defaulters.Generally, vendors purchase fruits and vegetables from the Sector 26 grain market in Chandigarh at wholesale rates fixed by the Market Committee. However, they allegedly sell the produce at considerably higher prices in Apni Mandi, MC Mandis and the open market.The applicant further stated that the condition of the MC Mandi was worse, as no rate list was displayed there, unlike at Kisan Mandi. Some vendors had set up their rehris along main roads and on footpaths, obstructing pedestrians and hampering traffic movement, which often led to major traffic jams.The vendors also allegedly dumped garbage along roadsides, adding to the burden on the UT Administration, which had to spend public money on cleaning the areas.