Delhi High Court asks Centre to respond to PIL demanding closure of abattoirs near IGI airport

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and others on a plea seeking closure of abattoirs within 10 kilometers of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, posing threat to lives and safety of birds and passengers.

A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued notices to several authorities on the petition, asking for their stand on the measures that mitigate the PIL's concerns.

The replies were directed to not only comprise "para-wise replies to the averments made in the PIL" but also include the "details of the steps taken" on the concerns raised in the petition.

The court granted six weeks time to file the affidavits and posted the hearing on May 14.

Petitioner Gauri Maulekhi, an animal rights activist, said the aircraft rules and the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024 prohibit slaughter or flay of animals or disposal of any garbage related to it, which is likely to attract birds or animals, within a radius of 10 kilometer from the aerodrome reference point (ARP).

"A contravention of the said rule constitutes a cognisable penal offence. While the respondents have acknowledged that such causes have increased BASH accidents, no effective measures or steps have been taken by the respondents to curb the said menace," it said.

The petitioner, therefore, sought shutting down all illegal slaughterhouses, meat shop clusters and other unauthorised establishments within the 10-kilometer radius of the ARP of the IGI Airport.

The PIL, filed through law firm Karanjawala and Company, said the encounter of birds or wildlife with aircraft at the IGI Airport not only posed a threat to the life and safety of the passengers in the aircraft, but also put to risk the local residents in the event of a crash.

It sought a direction to the authorities to take immediate and effective measures to prevent "bird aircraft strike hazard" (BASH) and implement the "bird avoidance model" (BAM) at the IGI Airport, whose absence allegedly led to serious accidents in the past.

The plea said the primary reason behind such incidents was the presence of slaughter houses, meat shops, dairy farms and environmental pollution in the vicinity of the IGI Airport.

"The operation of slaughter houses/meat shops/dairy farms and disposal of the remnants around the IGI Airport is contrary to various statutes," it claimed.

Between 2018 and 2023, the plea said, the total number of bird strikes at the IGI Airport, standing at 705 incidents, outnumbered combined bird hit incidents reported across 29 airports in six different states.

The petitioner's several representations to the authorities for action against such establishments aside from the effective implementation of BAM were stated to have only fallen on deaf ears.

Besides DGCA, the court also sought responses from the Airport Authority of India, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Delhi government, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Development Authority and Delhi Police, on the petition.