The Supreme Court on Monday scrapped a plea filed by Uttarakhand govt against High Court order placing restrictions on illegal slaughtering of animals on open roads and outside the authorized/permitted slaughter houses.

The Uttarakhand High Court in Sep 2018 had ordered the state govt to seal all the illegal slaughterhouses within 72 hours while also directing that no animal should be slaughtered on the streets or in the open. “It is the duty cast upon all the executive officers of the local self-government, municipal corporations, municipalities, nagar panchayats and other panchayats to ensure that no animal is slaughtered in the public streets/paths/roads/and in spaces open to public gaze,” the high court had stated.

It had passed the following interim directions on the plea which had sought prevention of illegal slaughtering of animals on open roads and outside the authorized/permitted slaughter houses:

• All the illegal Slaughter Houses in the State of Uttarakhand are ordered to be sealed within 72 hours from today.
• The Secretary, Home to the State of Uttarakhand is directed to ensure that no animal is slaughtered on the streets or open spaces, forthwith.
• The State Government is also directed to constitute a Committee for Slaughter Houses as per the letter dated 26.04.2012 issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, if not already constituted, within a period of seven days from today.
• The State Government is directed to ensure that no Slaughter House is permitted to run without complying with the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, more particularly, Part- IV of the said Regulations, till further orders.

—India Legal Bureau