Delhi High Court refuses hearing plea to prohibit operation of Illegal Slaughterhouses, says lacks details

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to hear a petition to prohibit the operation of illegal slaughterhouses in the Delhi NCR region.

The court was hearing a plea moved by one Deepak Upadhyay seeking directions to ensure that the city's sole mechanized and modern slaughterhouse in the Ghazipur area is used to its full capacity and supplies healthy meat for domestic consumption.

On finding that the petitioner failed to provide evidence, a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad observed,

“You have not given one single example of any illegal slaughterhouse. You want us to do fishing and roving inquiry in the entire Delhi. Where is the list of slaughterhouses?”

Counsel for the petitioner submitted that it is impossible to know the exact number because such illegal slaughterhouses operate in each local market.

Following some arguments, the counsel for the petitioner requested permission to withdraw the petition and file a new one with the necessary details of illegal slaughterhouses.

Thus, the petition was dismissed as withdrawn, the Court ordered.

The plea stated that the issue is pivotal because we are living in a COVID pandemic, and ensuring the quality of meat supplied in the market is one of the most important factors in preventing the spread of these types of epidemics.

"This petition arises in the context and background of flagrant violations of acts, rules, and regulations governing slaughterhouse operations, as well as various judgments and orders of the Supreme Court that have prohibited the operation of illegal slaughtering and laid down stringent standards to be followed by slaughterhouses," the plea stated.

Case Title: Deepak Upadhyay v. State of NCT of Delhi & Ors.