The Madras High Court has directed the Director of Rural Development to instruct subordinates to crack down on all meat shops being run across the State without a valid licence and register criminal cases against those who slaughter animals without adhering to the appropriate rules and regulations.
Justice S. M. Subramaniam also ordered strict implementation of the Tamil Nadu Village Panchayats (Prohibition or Regulation of the use of places for slaughtering animals and licensing of slaughterers) Rules, 1999 and insisted that disciplinary action must be initiated against officials who fail to take action.
The Orders were passed while disposing of a writ petition filed in 2015 complaining about a meat shop functioning without licence at Panagal village in Nagapattinam district. The judge agreed with the litigant that the officials often do not take stern action against the violators leading to health hazards.
“Health being the basic right of every citizen, any such complaint given by the people of a locality must be looked into and swift actions must be initiated without any delay,” he observed.
