SC refuses to stay Idgah closure notice

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stay closure notices issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to slaughterhouses located in Idgah area of old Delhi but asked the civic body not to disturb the sale and purchase of buffalo until next Wednesday.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stay closure notices issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to slaughterhouses located in Idgah area of old Delhi but asked the civic body not to disturb the sale and purchase of buffalo until next Wednesday.

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A bench headed by Justice VS Sirpurkar, however, made it clear there would be no slaughter at Idgah in old Delhi area where about 450 butchers and others are engaged in the slaughter and sale of meat.

The court has sought a response from the MCD on a batch of petitions filed by aggrieved butchers and others challenging the closure notice issued by the civic body to them. It permitted sale and purchase of buffaloes till next week when the court would further hear the plea of buffalo traders.

MCD had issued closure notices to the slaughterhouses and others engaged in the business to shift their operations to the newly constructed abbatoir at Ghazipur in east Delhi.

MCD counsel Sanjiv Sen justified the notices on the ground that continuance of unregulated slaughterhouses posed a serious health hazard and it would be appropriate for the aggrieved slaughterhouse owners and others at Idgah to shift to the Ghazipur facility.

Sen said the civic body has followed the Supreme Court’s orders and accordingly build a modern slaughterhouse at Ghazipur. He said the shifting has been done in accordance with the court’s order.

However, slaughterhouse owners and others connected with the business such as brokers and livestock traders, alleged the modern slaughterhouse at Ghazipur did not have sufficient resting and feeding facilities for the animals and parking of thousands of trucks transporting animals.