Indore, Dec 23 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh High Court has observed that denial of permission for opening a slaughter house in Mandsaur on the ground that it is a 'religious city' was 'totally unacceptable."
Making this observation, the court directed a civic official in Mandsaur to issue the No Objection Certificate (NOC) sought by a man for opening a buffalo slaughterhouse.
The local body's argument for rejecting the butcher's application was that Mandsaur is a religious city and hence permission to open a slaughterhouse cannot be issued.
"The reason taken that Mandsaur is a religious city hence permission for establishment of a slaughter house cannot be given is wholly unacceptable," Justice Pranay Verma of the high court's Indore bench said on December 17 while admitting the petition of a Mandsaur resident Sabir Hussain, a butcher by profession.
Hussain filed the application in 2020 to obtain the NOC from the Mandsaur municipality to open a slaughterhouse for buffalo meat business, but the chief municipal officer (CMO) rejected it claiming Mandsaur has been declared a "holy city" by the state government.
The state government, in a notification issued on December 9, 2011, declared the 100-metre radius of Lord Shiva's Pashupatinath temple in Mandsaur as a "sacred area".
Animal slaughter, purchase and sale of eggs, meat, fish and liquor was banned in the notified area.
In his application before the CMO, Hussain said the place where he wants to open a slaughterhouse in Mandsaur is far away from the "sacred area".
The high court, while looking into the facts of the case, said the state government has declared only a place within a radius of 100 metres in Mandsaur as "sacred area", hence the entire city cannot be considered a "sacred area".
"The issue is regulated by specific legal provisions and even the notification which has been issued by the State Government on 09.12.2011 has declared an area of only 100 metres in radius to be a sacred area. Only for issuance of such a notification the entire city cannot be considered to be a sacred area. The stand as taken in the return by respondent No.3 (CMO) hence cannot be accepted," it said.
The court said that the process of fixing the location for setting up the slaughter house has already been initiated by the CMO and the state government's permission for the same is pending.
After considering the arguments of both the sides, the bench cited a precedent and directed the CMO to issue the NOC to Hussain for opening the slaughterhouse.
The HC, however, clarified that the petitioner can be given permission to open the slaughterhouse only under the laws made to prevent water and air pollution.
"Since the process of fixing the location for setting up of the slaughter house has already been initiated by respondent No.3 and which is pending approval of the State Government, I deem it fit and proper to issue similar directions as were issued in the case of Pada Mans Vikreta Sangh (supra)," it said.
"The respondent No.3 is hence directed to issue the No Objection Certificate to the petitioner for setting up of a slaughter house," the court said.
The petitioner shall be permitted to do so after taking consent under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and other applicable laws, if any, it further said.
"The slaughtering of animals shall be permissible in the said slaughter house but not without the consent under the aforesaid Acts and other applicable laws," the court said.