Mumbai: The Bombay high court (HC) will be hearing an interim application filed by NGO Jiv Maitri Trust on Monday, wherein it has alleged violation of the July 2021 HC order which restrained the slaughtering of sacrificial animals on the occasion of Bakri Eid in temporary slaughterhouses.
In an affidavit filed by the trust in April 2022, it has alleged that though the HC had directed municipal corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to ensure that slaughtering of sacrificial animals was carried out only in the slaughterhouses recognised/ licenced as per law, the commissioner of Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNMC), had permitted 38 temporary slaughterhouses to be functional between 21 and 23 July 2021.
The affidavit claimed that the temporary slaughterhouses were in the teeth of Rule 3(1) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (slaughterhouse) Rules, 2001 and other legislation referred to in the petition.
As Bakri Eid is being celebrated on July 10, the application is scheduled to be heard on July 4.
The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Makarand Karnik, while hearing the application filed by the trust was informed by senior advocate Anil Anturkar that apart from the affidavit, the petitioners had also attached photographs of the sacrifices being carried out in the BNMC jurisdiction, which were in violation of the July 2021 order of a coordinate bench.
On July 20, 2021, the coordinate bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni held that the order of the commissioner BNMC for setting up 38 temporary slaughterhouses was illegal, arbitrary and high-handed, and hence stayed the operation of the impugned order.
The court had noted in its order, “We make it abundantly clear that no slaughtering of animals shall be allowed except in recognised or licensed slaughterhouses and that too in accordance with the statutory rules and the guidelines/decisions of the competent courts of law. We also direct that should any violation be noticed, appropriate action shall be taken by the civil, municipal and police administration.”
After perusing the affidavit and the photographs, the bench said, “The averments in the said affidavit and the pictures forming part thereof, prima facie, give us reason to believe that proper steps as the coordinate bench wished by its order dated July 20, 2021, might not have been taken. However, before examining the petitioners’ claim as raised in the said affidavit, we are of the view that the version of the respondents ought to be obtained.”
The bench then directed the Thane police commissioner to be added as a party to the application and then directed the police commissioner and the BNMC commissioner to file separate affidavits in response to the April 2022 affidavit of the petitioners (Trust) by July 4 morning and posted hearing of the petition at 2.30 pm the same day.