Delhi High Court asks DDA for status of land allocation for slaughter houses

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today asked DDA to inform it in two weeks about the progress made with respect to allocation of land to the municipal bodies for running slaughter houses in the national capital.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru passed the order after he was informed that a meeting was held on April 22, 2014, between Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the municipal bodies where it was decided to inspect present slaughter houses with respect to optimum utilisation of space and also explore the possibility of their expansion.

"At the meeting it was decided to examine the requirement of providing land for additional slaughter houses. DDA to file status report indicating progress made in this regard within two weeks," the court said and listed the matter for further hearing on November 19.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the Delhi Meat Merchant Association, through advocate Shekhar Prit Jha, seeking directions to DDA to allot land to the municipal bodies for setting up slaughter houses in their respective zones. Jha said the recent affidavit of DDA is not clear about the progress made by it with respect to allotting land for slaughter houses.

DDA, in its affidavit, has said that in 2004 it had alloted land in Ghazipur to MCD for relocation of a slaughter house from Idgah here and it was envisaged that it would cater to the future demand of Delhi.

It has also stated that a meeting was held on the direction of the Lt Governor to consider amending the relevant sections of the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD 2021) to make a provision for allotting land for setting up additional slaughter houses.

In the meeting, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation had sought allocation of 15 acres of land to set up a slaughter house and the same is under consideration, the affidavit has said. It also said DDA has allotted 40076.2 square meter in Rohini Phase-V to North Delhi Municipal Corporation for a pig slaughter house.