SC orders inclusion of judicial officer in panel on abattoir

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed appointment of a judicial member in all state committees set up to monitor functioning of slaughter houses in accordance with the legal framework.

A bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and P C Ghose noted with concern that slaughter houses were still being run in different states without any licence and those functioning with licence were not following the mandatory guidelines.

The court said the committee formed by all the states and Union territories after its direction in October 2012 had not been able to undertake periodical inspection of the abattoir.

“We notice that there is no periodical supervision or inspection of the various slaughter houses... Action Taken Reports would indicate that in many states slaughter houses are functioning without any licence and even the licenced slaughter houses are also not following the provisions as well as the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest ,” the bench said.

The bench asked chief justices of the various high courts to nominate a retired district judge for two years as a convener of the state committee so as to enable him to organise the meeting regularly and send the quarterly reports to the apex court. “We feel that the presence of an experienced judicial officer in the state committees would give more life and light to the committees, who can function as its convener. The convener, so appointed, would see that the committees meet quite often and follow and implement the provisions of the Act as well as the guidelines,” the court observed.