The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board (DAMB) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) to respond to a plea seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the authorities for alleged disobedience of an order banning slaughtering of birds at the Ghazipur murga mandi here.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh granted time to the counsel for DAMB, EDMC and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to get instructions on the issue and posted the case for further hearing on August 27.
On September 24, 2018, the court had said: “Taking note of the totality of the circumstances and the manner in which the statutory authorities, particularly the EDMC is acting, we have no option but to direct that in the area in question namely the Ghazipur murga mandi, no slaughtering of birds would be permitted henceforth”.
The High Court had then asked the authorities to come up with a plan to set up a designated slaughter house in the area after complying with statutory requirements and till then only sale of live birds can be done in the area.
The court’s decision had come on a public interest litigation (PIL) by animal rights activist Gauri Maulekhi claiming that poultry birds are being traded and slaughtered illegally at the Ghazipur mandi in east Delhi.
Ms. Maulekhi, in her fresh petition, has sought initiation of contempt proceedings against the authorities for their alleged wilful disobedience and violation of the 2018 order.
She said an inspection of the Ghazipur mandi was conducted on August 5, 2019 by the sub-committee constituted by the Delhi Slaughter house Monitoring Committee in compliance of an order passed by the Supreme Court.
The plea said the report also highlighted that licences were issued by Delhi government’s DAMB to the shops in the poultry markets to sell poultry birds, however, almost all the shops were slaughtering poultry birds in gross violation of law, imposing threat to public health and safety.
Ms. Maulekhi, in her main petition, had contended that there was “blatant violation” of mandatory health checks and veterinary screening of the birds which leads to spreading of infectious diseases such as avian flu.
She said the birds are “tied up and hung upside down, de-feathered, stuffed in wire cages without sufficient food or water and slaughtered while alive”. She also said that waste generated as a result of the slaughter of the birds was not properly disposed of and was either flushed down the drain ending up in the rivers or dumped in open grounds.
