No coercive step to stop sale of meat in Kurukshetra: HC

Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 16

About a year after Haryana imposed a ban on the sale of meat in Thanesar, Pehowa and Kurukshetra, the High Court on Tuesday issued direction against the initiation of coercive steps for selling food items specified in the licence issued to sellers. The order would remain in force at least till the next date of hearing on October 22.

The direction by Justice Rajan Gupta came on a petition filed against Haryana and other respondents by Anand Bajaj through counsel Arvind Seth. Placing the matter under judicial scanner after taking cognisance of the petition, Justice Gupta asserted that the Bench, prima facie, found substance in the petitioner’s plea that order banning sale and purchase of meat during subsistence of licence would curtail his freedom.

In his petition placed before Justice Gupta’s Bench, the petitioner had mounted a challenge to the order dated October 24, 2017, whereby the Governor had declared Kurukshetra, Thanesar and Pehowa as holy towns before prohibiting the sale and purchase of meat and meat products within municipal limits.

After going through the petition and the arguments, Justice Gupta added that the order had been impugned by the petitioner on the ground that there was no enabling statute or provision under which it could have been passed.

Issuing notice of motion to the state and other respondents for the third week of October, Justice Gupta took note of the petitioner’s argument that the only law applicable in the matter was the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006, and the standard regulations framed therein.

Justice Gupta also recorded in his order the counsel’s argument that the petitioner had a valid licence to sell meat and meat products, including poultry. Justice Gupta recorded the counsel’s argument that during the subsistence of such a licence, the order in question would tend to restrain the petitioner’s freedom.

Information available suggested that the Thanesar Municipal Council had, in 1971, approved a proposal to impose a ban on the sale of liquor and meat. In 1982, 2009 and 2011, proposals had again been passed to prohibit the sale of liquor and meat.

Action was taken against two hotels in Thanesar in 2014 after being found selling meat. The government, at the time of issuing the orders, had made it clear that the ban on the sale of meat would be implemented strictly in Thanesar and Pehowa.