U’khand HC Orders Sealing Of All Illegal Slaughter Houses Across State Within 72 Hrs [Read Order]

The Uttarakhand High Court has ordered all illegal slaughter houses running in the state to be sealed within 72 hours.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari directed the state to ensure that no animals are slaughtered in open in public gaze.

The directions of the court came on a petition moved by Parvez Alam against the illegal slaughtering of animals on open roads and outside the authorized/permitted slaughter houses which he said was prevalent in the state.

He also presented photographs of the same before the bench showing how animals were being slaughtered in a barbaric manner in full public view.

Disturbed with the scene, the bench passed following directions:

1. All the illegal slaughter houses in the state of Uttarakhand are ordered to be sealed within 72 hours from today.


2. The Secretary, Home to the State of Uttarakhand, is directed to ensure that no animal is slaughtered on the streets or open spaces, forthwith.


3. 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.


4. 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 at open spaces, open to public gaze.


5. 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.

During the hearing, the petitioner referred to enactments such as the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1916;  Rule 3 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001; Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016; Section 106 of Uttarakhand Panchayat Raj Act, 2016.

He also placed on record pictures of the animals being slaughtered brutally.

“These pictures are disturbing and have pricked the conscience of the Court. How, the authorities can permit the slaughtering of animals in the streets, in villages and towns, is beyond our comprehension. Animals also do have constitutional/legal rights. The authorities cannot remain as ‘mute-spectators’ towards the slaughtering of animals, that too, in a very beastly manner,” said the bench.

Relying on Rule 3 of the ‘The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001’, the bench said, “Rule 3 of the Rules enunciates that no person shall slaughter any animal within a municipal area except in a slaughter house recognized or licensed by the concerned authority empowered under the law for the time being in force to do so. It is also stated therein that no animal shall be slaughtered (i) which is pregnant, or (ii) has an offspring less than three months old, or (iii) is under the age of three months, or (iv) has not been certified by a veterinary doctor that it is in a fit condition to be slaughtered.”

The court was also informed that regulations which require a slaughter house to obtain a NOC, to be linked with a meat market etc., is not complied with.

The petitioner also submitted that till date, the state government has not constituted any state committee for slaughter houses to be presided over by the Secretary of the Department of Urban Development of the state as its chairman.

This is in defiance of Supreme Court order in a case titled Laxmi Narain vs. Union of India and others.

The bench noted: “The Hon’ble Chief Minister of the State of Uttarakhand has also made a public statement that the State will not permit opening of any large scale ‘slaughter house’ in the State of Uttarakhand.”

Read the Order Here
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