Mumbai, May 15 -- The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started issuing QR code-enabled licences to authorised stall owners across Mumbai, marking a major push towards digitising the city's hawking regulation system amid mounting scrutiny from the Bombay High Court over illegal street vending. The new licence, seen by HT, prominently displays a QR code that can be scanned to verify the hawker's authenticity, including their name, vending location, and the commodities permitted for sale. The move comes days after the high court pulled up the BMC for failing to curb illegal hawking in the city despite repeated directions over the years. During a hearing on May 5, the court suggested introducing a QR code-based identification system to distinguish authorised hawkers from illegal ones. Following the court's observations, the civic body has begun distributing QR-enabled licences to existing authorised stall owners and is preparing to extend the system to all vendors covered under a 2014 hawker survey. However, implementing the initiative for nearly 99,435 hawkers within five weeks, as directed by the high court, is emerging as a major administrative challenge, officials said. The BMC's verified records currently account for only around 32,000 licensed or eligible hawkers, making large-scale verification necessary before new identity cards can be issued. Advocate Chaitanya Chavan, the BMC's counsel in hawker-related matters, said the municipal corporation first needs to undertake a large-scale verification exercise before the QR code-based identity cards can be issued. "We are already issuing QR codes to licensed hawkers. Now, we are in the process of extending the same benefit to 99,435 hawkers. We had earlier sought two months' time, but it was later agreed to complete the process in five weeks," Chavan said. A civic official said the QR code-based system is intended to streamline enforcement and reduce disputes over illegal hawking and licence duplication....