Committee formed to monitor slaughterhouses, meat shops in Chandigarh: MC to HC

The Chandigarh Administration has formed a 13-member committee, headed by the Home Secretary-cum-Secretary Local Government, to supervise and monitor issues relating to slaughterhouses and meat shops in Chandigarh.

This information has been given before the Punjab and Haryana by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and the UT Administration while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Jairoop Riar, a city resident.

In the public interest litigation, filed through advocate Saurav Bhatia, the petitioner said that in compliance with the direction by the Supreme Court in a case titled as ‘Laxmi Narayan Modi Vs. UOI’, a committee had been constituted by the UT vide order dated November 2, 2012, to look into the issues relating to slaughterhouses.

However, the petitioner alleged that the committee had till date taken no action. He further submitted that one of the members of the committee, a leading practitioner and poultry consultant, had passed away and the panel has not been updated since.

The petitioner also claimed that no meeting had been held and no steps taken to start the work to look into the issues relating to slaughterhouses.

He argued that the committee have the power to implement measures to mitigate environmental damage caused by illegal slaughterhouses and meat shops, identify and close unlicensed units, and ensure registration under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 (as extended to Chandigarh in 1994).

In view of this, the petitioner sought for a direction that a committee should be constituted to supervise and monitor these issues.

After hearing the arguments, a Bench comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry took on record the written statement filed by the respondents.

The court noted that, as per the reply, a fresh committee had been constituted vide notification dated February 13, 2026, headed by the Home Secretary-cum-Secretary Local Government, Chandigarh Administration, comprising 13 members.

“In view of the above, it appears that the substantive relief, prayed for in this petition, has since been granted. We hope and expect that the committee shall perform its functions in terms of the directions passed by the Apex Court in Laxmi Narayan Modi vs. Union of India, in 2003. In case, the said committee fails to perform its functions, the petitioner is always free to revisit the Court. With the liberty, the present petition stands disposed of,” the Bench observed.

As per the Supreme Court’s orders, the committee’s functions include to identify and prepare a list of all slaughterhouses, call for reports from the District Magistrate to recommend modernisation or relocation of units near residential areas, recommend appropriate measures to deal with solid waste, water/air pollution and to prevent cruelty to animals, and to carry out surprise inspections to ensure compliance.