Sale of mutton-chicken sans checks in Doon- HC issues notice to MCD & Food Safety Dept

Saturday, 25 March 2023 | PNS | NAINITAL

The Uttarakhand High Court has issued notices to the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun and the Food Safety department, seeking their replies by April 16 in a public interest litigation filed regarding the sale of meat in mutton and chicken shops without any tests in Dehradun. The division bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Alok Kumar Verma issued this direction while hearing on the PIL filed by Dehradun resident Vikesh Negi.

Negi has stated in his petition that the only registered slaughter house in Dehradun was closed down four years ago. Animal and bird meat is being sold from shops in Dehradun without the Food Safety department checks. The MCD and the department are unaware of where the goats and chicken are being slaughtered and from where the meat is being sourced, contended Negi. Since closure of the abattoir in Dehradun during 2018, meat is being sold from shops in the city without the Food Safety department testing the same. The petitioner has stated that the MCD and the department are toying with the health of the public. The two bodies are shifting the blame to each other on the question of the quality of the meat. Negi said that in response to an application he had filed under the Right To Information Act, he was told by the Food Safety department that the MCD is responsible as it allocates shops and collects rent whereas the MCD stated that the Food Safety department is responsible for checking the meat as it issues the licenses to the shops.

The petitioner has requested that the rules under which the goats and poultry have to be checked before being slaughtered in an abattoir should be implemented.