The bench said: "Formulate a simple policy to ensure that it is followed every year and petitions are not filed at the eleventh hour in court."
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner to frame a simple policy for slaughtering of animals, for bakri Eid celebrations to be held next year, and also call for suggestions and objections.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice GS Kulkarni also asked the corporation to file a compliance report on how facilities were used during Bakri Eid, to ensure proper compliance of environment norms.
The bench said: "Formulate a simple policy to ensure that it is followed every year and petitions are not filed at the eleventh hour in court."
Senior advocate Anil Sakhare, appearing for the civic body, said that it was open to any suggestions from citizens, provided they are reasonable. He once again reiterated that for many years, permissions are being granted and no untoward incidents have occurred. The Corporation has been properly regulating the slaughtering of animals for religious purposes.
A private trust has approached the court against the online system to grant permission for animal slaughter during Bakri Eid. Sakhare also submitted an affidavit of the Corporation, stating that the idea of granting permissions online was a "well-intentioned" one, and was meant to ease the process of applying for and securing permissions for animal slaughter this year.
The affidavit also reads that the online mechanism was introduced to encourage people to apply for permissions, rather than carry out animal sacrifice illegally. Further, the online mechanism was also supposed to help the BMC keep a record of the number of animals being sacrificed this year.
Last week, ridiculing the system, which had given permission to a person named Neal Armstrong to slaughter five goats inside the High Court room, the civic body said that the municipal corporation has now decided to stringently decide upon all applications that it receives online for animal sacrifice. All applications that are not in consonance with the Mumbai Municipal Act will be rejected.
LEGALLY SPEAKING
- A division bench of acting Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice GS Kulkarni also asked the corporation to file a compliance report on how facilities were used during Bakri Eid.
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