"Natural Justice Principles Violated": Allahabad HC Quashes Govt Order Cancelling Retailer's License For Selling Beef, Hurting Sentiments
The Allahabad High Court last week quashed an order of a Food Safety Officer who canceled the retailer license of a man, named Ikrar Husain, obtained under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which was otherwise valid up to January 21, 2022.The Ground for the cancelation of the license was that the petitioner, Husain, a retailer, was doing the business of selling buffalo meat, thereby...
The Allahabad High Court last week quashed an order of a Food Safety Officer who canceled the retailer license of a man, named Ikrar Husain, obtained under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which was otherwise valid up to January 21, 2022.
The Ground for the cancelation of the license was that the petitioner, Husain, a retailer, was doing the business of selling buffalo meat, thereby hurting the sentiments of a particular community
The Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Deepak Verma noted that in the instructions supplied to the Standing Counsel, there was no denial to the above plea, nor any material had been enclosed along with the instructions, demonstrating that any notice or opportunity of hearing was given to the petitioner before passing the impugned order.
Therefore, the Court held that the impugned order had been passed in violation of principles of natural justice and it was accordingly quashed, with liberty reserved in favor of the respondents to pass a fresh order after notice and opportunity of hearing to the petitioner.
Recently, the Allahabad High Court had quashed a detention order passed under the National Security Act, 1980 against 3 men who have been accused of cutting small pieces of beef for selling purposes in a house in secrecy.
The Bench of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Saroj Yadav observed that the case of the petitioners/detenues of cutting cow beef in pieces in the secrecy of their own house can at best be described as a matter affecting law and order and not public order.
"…the petitioners and co-accused were mutely arrested when they were found cutting beef in the wee hours of the morning in the house of the petitioners. We also do not know whether the cause was poverty, lack of employment or hunger, which may have compelled the petitioners and the other co-accused to take such a step," observed the Court
Also, the Allahabad High Court recently observed that Cow should be given the status of National Animal in light of the fact that "Cow is part and parcel of the culture of India" and that eating/consuming Cow-beef can't be considered to be a fundamental right of any person.
The order passed by Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav also observed that scientists believed that the cow is the only animal that inhales and exhales oxygen.
Case title - Ikrar Husain v. State Of U.P. And 3 Others
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