The Jammu and Kashmir High Court directed the Municipal Corporation of both Jammu and Srinagar to file the latest status report regarding the progress of the construction of the slaughterhouses in two cities.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Mohan Lal heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), regarding construction of modern slaughterhouses at Jammu and Srinagar. In Jammu two slaughterhouses are to be constructed whereas one in Srinagar.
Harshwardhan Gupta, Counsel appearing for the Jammu Municipal Corporation, submitted that the work has already been allotted and it is in progress but the Court noted that there is nothing on record to show to whom the work has been allotted and what is the extent of the progress and when the proposed construction is likely to be completed.
The High Court from the order dated 29.12.2020 further noted that the work of construction of two slaughterhouses in Jammu would commence soon as tenders for the construction have been received by the competent authority and the work shall be allotted within no time. The order reflects that the work of construction of a slaughterhouse in Srinagar is in progress and it would be completed within the next 7/8 months.
The said period is already over but the Additional Advocate General has not apprised the court as to the progress of the said slaughterhouse, the Court observed.
“We direct both Harshwardhan Gupta and S.S. Nanda, learned counsels appearing for Jammu Municipal Corporation and Srinagar Municipal Corporation, to file latest status report regarding the progress of the construction of the slaughterhouses in two cities. The report shall be filed within three weeks,”
-the order reads.
The matter is listed on February 16 , 2022 for further hearing.
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On 28 August 2020, the High Court had directed the AAG to file report with regard to the proper constitution of Slaughter Houses Monitoring Committee in terms of the orders of the Supreme Court in ‘Laxmi Narayan Modi v. Union of India and others’ (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 309/2003) and the proposal to create facilities of modern slaughterhouses in all districts of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu Municipal Corporation has been granted Rs 218.65 crore as grant from the 14th Finance Commission, of which Rs 27.19 crore has been released in February/March 2019. As far as the Srinagar Municipal Corporation is concerned, funds sanctioned in the 14th Finance Commission are Rs 539.50 crore, of which Rs 48.11 crore has been released in February/March 2019. Now, the projects for construction of the modern hygienic slaughterhouses have to be executed by the Jammu Municipal Corporation and Srinagar Municipal Corporation.
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