The Madhya Pradesh High Court has said that refusing to issue a permit for a slaughterhouse on the grounds that a city is religious in nature is “wholly unacceptable”.

A bench of Justice Pranay Verma on December 17 said that a 2011 notification issued by the state government under the Madhya Pradesh Municipalities Act, which declared a 100-metre radius in Mandsaur city a sacred area, did not “imply that the entire city should be considered as sacred”.

The court was hearing a petition by a man named Sabir Hussain against the refusal by the Mandsaur Municipal Council to grant him a no-objection certificate for establishing a slaughterhouse to slaughter buffaloes and trade in meat.

Hussain was refused permission on the grounds that Mandsaur was a “sacred” city. He moved the court against this refusal on December 1, 2021.

In his representations before the municipal council for permission to open the slaughterhouse, Hussain sought a no-objection certificate under Section 264 of the Madhya Pradesh Municipalities Act, Live Law reported.

This section allows a municipality to fix places for the slaughter of animals and prohibits the sale or slaughter of animals in those places.

He also noted that the 2011 state government notification only designated a 100-meter radius as “sacred”, according to Live Law. He told the municipal council in his representations that a slaughterhouse could be allowed beyond that area.

However, his representation was rejected by the municipal council on the grounds that the places for the slaughter of animals for sale were yet to be fixed by the state government.

“Mandsaur is a city of utmost religious significance, therefore, it would cause great prejudice and hurt religious sentiments if permission for a slaughterhouse is given,” the municipal council said, according to The Indian Express.

“Since the matter is sensitive, the City Superintendent of Police, Mandsaur, and Officer-in-Charge of City Kotwali, Mandsaur have also requested that such permission should not be given to the petitioner,” it added.

In its order, the court said that “the reason as has been taken in the return that Mandsaur is a religious city hence permission for establishment of a slaughterhouse cannot be given is wholly unacceptable”.

It added: “The issue is regulated by specific legal provisions and even the notification which has been issued by the state government on 09.12.2011 has declared an area of only 100 meter in radius to be a sacred area. Only for issuance of such a notification the entire city cannot be considered to be a sacred area. The stand as taken in the return by respondent hence cannot be accepted.”

The court directed the municipal corporation to issue a no-objection certificate and said that Hussain would be allowed to set up a slaughterhouse after taking permits under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and other applicable laws.

“The slaughtering of animals shall be permissible in the said slaughterhouse, but not without the consent under the aforesaid Acts and other applicable laws,” the court added.