If he is able to bid for 17 hawker stalls, then the system is damaged.
Aimed at preventing stallholders from subletting their stalls to others by mandating the physical presence of the registered owner, the regulation ultimately prevents rents and food prices from hiking and allows enterprising hawkers to enter the industry fairly.
In this case, the stall owner adopted a franchise model, operating at least 17 stalls around Singapore
it is technically breaching a rule in his tenancy agreement with the National Environment Agency (NEA) that requires stallholders to personally operate their stalls.