AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2006 (3) TMI 746
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....ion, the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (for short 'A.P.P.C.B.') also issued a 'NOC' on the application of the company filed on December 30, 1988, subject to certain conditions concerning the treatment of effluents and air pollution. In the said NOC, it was inter-alia stipulated that the company shall obtain a second 'NOC' and a regular consent under Sections 25 and 26 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 from A.P.P.C.B. before commencing regular production. The Director, Animal Husbandry Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh also issued a NOC in favour of the company by a letter dated July 13, 1989, subject to compliance with the provisions of Sections 5 and 6 of the Andhra Pradesh Prohibition of Cow Slaughter and Animal Preservation Act, 1977 ( in short the 'A.P. Act') and the instructions issued there under. Subsequently, on 18th July 1989 the Central Government (Ministry of Industry) granted a Letter of Intent (in short 'L.O.I.') under the provisions of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 (in short 'IDR Act') for establishment of a new industrial undertaking to the company at th....
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....various conditions for grant of LOI issued by the Central Government carefully, it would be evident that only old and useless buffaloes shall be available for slaughtering and their production and processing shall be subject to continuous inspection by the Municipal Authorities, Department of Animal Husbandry and Health Department of the State Government. Clause (c) of the LOI speaks of total prohibition of slaughtering of cows of all ages and calves of cows and buffaloes, male or female. Clause (d) invites the company to undertake measures of prohibiting and improving the breeds of the buffaloes by adoption of suitable animal husbandry practices in consultation with the State Government. Clause (e) of L.O.I. provides that 90% of the production of frozen buffalo meat would be exported for a period of ten years which may be extended by five years at the discretion of the Government. Clause (f) directs to take adequate steps to the satisfaction of the Government to prevent air, water and soil pollution and for this purpose anti pollution measures must be installed to enforce the effluent and emission standards prescribed by the State Government. Clause (g) of the LOI says that a new ....
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....espondents to the said writ petition. The writ petition was, however, subsequently withdrawn by the company and instead a revision petition was filed before the State Government questioning the notice issued by the Executive Officer on the suspension of the construction work which was permitted by the State Government. After hearing all the concerned parties, by an order dated 15th September 1990 the revision case was allowed by the State Government. A bare reading of this order would show that the order of the Executive Officer was not only directed to be set aside but also the period of completing the construction work was extended by one more year, from 29th of June 1989. Against the order passed in the revision case, two writ petitions being W.P.No.13763 and W.P.No.13808 of 1990 were filed in the High Court one by those organizations who were impleaded in the earlier writ petition and the other by some individuals. These two writ petitions were admitted by a learned Single Judge of the High Court and by an interim order, the operation of the order passed in the revision case was suspended pending decision of the two writ petitions. Against the aforesaid interim orde....
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....ere made by it to the State Government as well as to the Central Government was , however, not appealed before this Court. Pursuant to the directions given by the Division Bench in the aforesaid order, as noted hereinabove, the State Government constituted a Committee known as "Krishnan Committee" for examining and reporting the matters referred to in the order of the High Court. The Krishnan Committee constituted by the State Government submitted its report. It was noted in the report that some fundamentalist organizations opposed the establishment of the slaughter house on account of their religious and sentimental opposition to the slaughter of animals, whereas the Central Government and the Government of Andhra Pradesh permitted the setting up of this plant subject to the conditions imposed by them. So far as the pollution of air and water was concerned, the committee was of the opinion that if due observance of the safeguards stipulated by the several concerned departments, including Pollution Control Board was made by regular supervision, such pollution of air and water could be kept within a reasonable limit. So far as the depletion of the cattle wealth is concerned, the Com....
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....he Food and Agriculture Department of starting a modem abattoir with an investment of about Rs. 15 crores may be directed to take over this plant and eventually the unhygenic private slaughter houses in and around the city and government slaughter houses can be closed and the meat requirement for the city may be met from this factory." We have carefully examined the Report of the Krishnan Committee and its recommendation for allowing the establishment of the slaughter house. From a plain reading of the report and its recommendation, it cannot be doubted that the Krishnan Committee was in favour of the establishment of the slaughter house subject to the condition that it should raise its own cattle required by it - initially to the extent of half and ultimately to the full extent. The committee also opined that if the company was not willing to or not in a position to raise its own cattle then the company may not to be allowed to run or its capacity may be utilised to meet the existing requirement by diverting the cattle from the existing slaughter houses. From this recommendation, it may be said that the existing slaughter houses, big and small, government and private, were to b....
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....for similar reliefs and observed that there was mis-statement on the part of Dr. Kishan Rao saying that relief claimed in Writ Petition No. 13062/1992 and reliefs claimed in Writ Petition No. 8193/1992 were different. All these writ petitions were heard together and disposed of by the High Court by common judgment dated April 6, 1993. In the aforesaid judgment, the High Court in substance observed as follows: (1) As the LOI granted by the Central Government and the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Preservation of Cow Slaughter and Animal Preservation Act, 1977 permits slaughtering of only useless cattle and in view of the fact that maintenance of such useless cattle involves a wasteful drain on the nation's meager cattle feed resources, the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Central Government were fully justified in granting permission for establishing and running the slaughter house. (2) In view of the agitations by some organizations the matter was re-examined and fresh discussions were made by different concerned departments of the State. On the question of slaughter policy of the State and on re-examination of the issues involved, the Director of Animal Husbandry o....
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....A.No.3967 of 1994 is Smt.Satyavani whereas the appellant in C.A.No.3968 of 1994 is Akhil Bharat Goseva Sangh. Civil Appeal Nos. 3964-3965 of 1994 have been directed against the order of another Division Bench allowing the writ appeal preferred by the company under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent and setting aside the interlocutory order passed by a learned Single Judge in W.P.M.P. No.9367/1993 arising out of W.P. No. 7483/1993. In this way the five appeals against the judgments of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh were placed before us for final disposal which were heard in presence of the learned counsel for the parties. By an order dated 25th October 1994 passed in C.A. No.3968/1994 with C.A. Nos.3964-3967/1994 (Akhil Bharat Goseva Sangh vs. State of A.P. and Ors.) reported in [(1995) Suppl.(1) SCC 370], the report of the Krishnan Committee was taken into consideration by a Division Bench of this Court which made the following observations: "We are of the opinion that the rejection of Krishnan Committee report in the above manner really amounts to slurring over the main recommendation of the said report. Moreover, the learned Judges have not dealt with the failure of the ....
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..... The slaughter house is situated on the western border of Andhra Pradesh State, almost on the trijunction of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. In such a situation, the slaughter house would rather draw its requirements of cattle from the surrounding and nearby districts rather than go all the way to far away districts of Andhra Pradesh State like Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam or for that matter, Nellore and Anantapur, which are situated several hundreds of miles away. The transport of cattle over long distance may induce the slaughter house to go in for cattle in the nearby areas, whether in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra or Karnataka - unless, of course, the cattle are available at far cheaper rates at distant places, which together with transport charges would make it more economic for the slaughter house to bring cattle from far away districts or from far away areas in the country. Therefore, taking the entire cattle population of the Andhra Pradesh State is bound to convey an incorrect picture. Perhaps, it would be more appropriate to take into consideration the cattle population of, what the Krishnan Committee calls, the "hinterland" of the slaughter house. In view of th....
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....llowing conclusions and suggestions:- (i) With regard to the pollution of air and water the suggestions and recommendations made by the Krishnan Committee as well as the expert opinion contained in it were good and acceptable. The Government of India in the Ministry of Environment and Forests have already accepted the same and the steps to implement have already been taken. The Environment Audit Report along with the Environmental Management Plan prepared by the Company were acceptable. However, regular monitoring of pollution of air and water need to be continued by the Company itself as well as periodic checking by the Andhra Pradesh State Pollution Control Board. (Emphasis supplied) (ii) The Krishnan Committee's assumption and apprehensions on depletion of cattle due to establishment of M/s Al-Kabeer's slaughter house are not based on correct scientific analysis and adequate reasoning, and therefore, are not acceptable. From the facts and analysis it is obvious that amongst bovine animals, the project of M/s. Al-Kabeer is to utilize only the unproductive buffaloes and not cow and its progeny. In fact, adequate number of unproductive buffaloes were available for use....
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....king of Al-Kabeer. In short, the position obtaining after April 1995 would alone give a correct picture. We cannot also reject the contention of the learned counsel for the appellants that the Government of India's Report is influenced to a considerable extent by the Report of Shri Yogi Reddy, the then Director of Animal Husbandry, Government of Andhra Pradesh, whose Report has been termed as "unauthorized" by the Special Secretary to the Government of Andhra Pradesh and thus disowned by the Government. Even according to the Government of India's Report, the requirement of Al-Kabeer is 1.5 to 2.0 lakh buffaloes every year, which is not an insubstantial figure. We must also take into consideration what the appellants' counsel call the inherent contradiction between the standard and quality of beef required for export and the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Prohibition of Cow Slaughter and Animal Preservation Act, 1977 and the effect of the decisions of this Court, which leave only old and infirm buffaloes for slaughter. We, therefore, think it appropriate that the Government of India should be called upon to send a fresh report after studying the impact and effect of th....
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....beer abattoir (company). (3) Though there is a decrease in cattle population, that may not be related to the functioning of the Al-Kabeer, as beef from cattle is banned from export. Subsequently, in the year 1999 census data on cattle population of Andhra Pradesh namely 16th live stock census was submitted before this Court. As per the live stock census conducted, the total live stock population in the Andhra Pradesh State was calculated at 357.87 lakhs in 1999 with an increase of 8.7% over that of 1993 census. This increase was stated to be mainly due to the significant increase in bovine population to the extent of 22%. On behalf of the appellants, the first question that was raised and not decided by this Court in its earlier orders but kept to be decided at the final stage of the appeals, was whether Al-Kabeer Unit (company) has been established in violation of location requirement, as mentioned in the LOI of the Central Government for issuance of industrial licence to it. According to the appellants, since the location of Al-Kabeer is in violation of location requirement, as mentioned in the LOI of the Central Government and also the prohibition zone imposed by the St....
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....ral Government only wherein, this location requirement was stated in a printed form. It is an admitted position that the Central Government did not make any query from the company about the distance between Rudraram Village, where the site is located, and the urban limits of the city of Hyderabad. On a bare perusal of Section 11 of the IDR Act, it is evident that no person or authority shall, after the commencement of the Act, establish any industrial undertaking except in accordance with the licence issued in that behalf by the Central Government. That is to say, an embargo has been imposed on any person or authority to establish any new industrial undertaking before obtaining a licence from the Central Government. Subsection 2 of section 11 however says that a licence or a permission under Sub-section 1 to establish a new industrial undertaking may contain such conditions including condition as to the location of the undertaking as the Central Government may deem fit to impose in accordance with the Rules. This subsection 2 of Section 11 empowers the Central Government to impose conditions on the person or the authority as to the location of the undertaking. In our view, subse....
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....ndustrial licence by virtue of the Notification dated 3rd February 1992 of the State Government. In view of the admitted fact that industrial licence was granted by the Central Govt. on 11.11.1992 and permission to run the slaughter house was also granted by the State Government on the basis of the Industrial policy of the State Govt. of 3rd February, 1992, we are unable to hold that distance prohibition could be considered to be a ground either for cancellation of the industrial licence or for closing down the unit. Apart from that, we may keep it in mind that in pursuance of the LOI granted by the Central Government and the various permissions granted by the State Government and other authorities, the company commenced construction of its factory in 1989. It should also keep in mind that before commencing its construction the following permissions/No Objection Certificates were taken by the Company: (a) No Objection Certificate for site clearance from APPCB. (b) No Objection Certificate from the Director of Animal Husbandry, A.P. (c) Letter of Intent from Ministry of Industry, Govt. of India. (d) Two NOCs. from the Gram Panchayat to locate the factory as well as co....
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....ble limit specified in the Environment Protection Rules, 1986 was 30 mg./Lit (Rule 3, Schedule 1, Entry 50B). According to the learned counsel appearing for Satyavani the limit for suspended solids allowed by APPCB of 100 mg/Lit was in excess of limit of 50 mg/Lit. allowed in Rule 3, Schedule 1, Entry 50B of the Environment Protection Rules, 1986. Therefore, it was contended that the consent of APPCB was in violation of the Act and Rules, and accordingly it must be quashed. It was also contended on behalf of Satyavani that since the samples collected on 6th August 1994 from Al- Kabeer show that its B.O.D. in fact reached 150 mg/Lit. which was much beyond the permitted limit of 30 mg./Lit. and its suspended solid discharge was recorded at 140 mg/Lit. which was much beyond the permitted 50 mg./Lit., the question of giving consent to Al-Kabeer by the authorities could not arise at all as it had clearly violated the maximum permissible limit specified in the Environment Protection Rules, 1986. Accordingly, permission granted should be withdrawn. These submissions were strongly disputed by the learned counsel for Al-Kabeer (company). From a careful consideration of the rival submissi....
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....ality not bringing down the level of pollution below permissible limits. However, it cannot be overlooked that Al-Kabeer is continuing its operation for more than 10 years without any objection from the APPCB. Therefore, considering all the circumstances, we are of the view that directly ordering closure of Al-Kabeer Abattoir is not called for; rather directions may be given to APPCB to rectify its consent order in accordance with the Environment Protection Rules and also to direct Al-Kabeer to strictly comply with that rectified consent order and Environment Protection Rules. In the event abattoir fails to comply with such directions from the APPCB, it would be open to the authorities to direct closure of the Al-Kabeer unit. We are taking this view keeping in mind that the appellants had not seriously argued, during the course of hearing before this Court, that the company had in fact violated the standards laid down in the Environment Protection Act and Rules. It may also be noted that in the interim judgment dated 12.3.1997 reported in (1997) 3 SCC 707, this Court has noted the conclusions of the Central Government Committee in paragraph 2 wherein, it has recorded that the Co....
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....had arisen in relation to compliance with environment standards maintained by Al-Kabeer, which were raised by the appellant Shri Tukkoji, in C.A. Nos. 3964-65 of 1994. The first question is whether the consent order of the APPCB was vitiated because the reports of the analysts were not made available to Shri Tukkoji prior to the issuance of NOC. Learned counsel appearing for Shri Tukkoji contended that the consent order was in derogation of the right of Shri Tukkoji to information in violation of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. According to Shri Tukkoji, he was not only entitled to receive the reports of the analysts relating to the effects of the functioning of the abattoir but also to file objections prior to the issuance of N.O.C. This contention was accepted by the learned Single Judge of the High Court but was rejected by the Division Bench. The Division Bench in the impugned judgment observed as follows- " On a prima facie view of the various provisions of the Water Act and the corresponding provisions of the Air Act, in particular the provisions of sections 16, 17, 20 and 25 of the Water Act we are not inclined to hold at this stage that a third party has any right ....
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....onmental protection or a person having knowledge and experience in administering institutions dealing with matters aforesaid, to be nominated by the State Government'. Section 4(2)(f) of the Act requires the Member Secretary to possess "qualifications, knowledge and experience of scientific, engineering or management aspects of pollution control." From the record, it appears that at the relevant time the Chairman and the Member Secretary of the APPCB did not possess these statutorily required qualifications. The observation of the High Court in the judgment that some of the members of the APPCB were scientific experts, does not address this specific breach of the statutory requirement. In this connection, we, however, need to look into the provisions under Section 11 of the Water Act, which provides in terms that "No act or proceeding of a Board or any committee thereof shall be called in question on the ground merely of the existence of any vacancy in or any defect in the constitution of, the Board or such committee, as the case may be." Therefore, applying Section 11 of the Act which clearly provides that no act or proceeding of APPCB or any committee thereof shall be c....
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....ttle population in districts of AP, which can not be accepted. c. The subsequent report of the Central Govt. dated 23.12.2003 itself vindicates the claim that cattle depletion has occurred due to Al-Kabeer's operations. d. This depletion is not in relation to old and useless cattle, as Al-Kabeer necessarily must slaughter useful animals, for export, as pointed out by the Krishnan Committee Report. There are also no sufficient number of useless animals to meet its requirement of 1.5 to 2 lakh buffaloes per year, as is evident from the figures of successive census carried out by the Andhra Pradesh Directorate of Economics and Statistics. Further, the monitoring of Al-Kabeer, for compliance with the Andhra Pradesh Animal Preservation Act, is not effective, as reported by Dr. Jitendra Reddy, Special Officer, Govt. of A.P. Such unrestricted slaughtering of useful animals will worsen the already existing dung shortage in Andhra Pradesh. The appellant Akhil Bharat Goseva Sangh in C.A. No. 3968/1994 made the following submissions: a) The Central Govt. report on buffalo population, as well as the 16th Quinquennial census figures (1999) of the Bureau of Economics and Statisti....
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....ot considered. All these submissions of the appellants, as noted hereinbefore, were contested by Al-Kabeer in C.A.No.3967 of 1994 and made the following reply : - a. The appellants had relied on a Central Govt. report dated 23.12.2003, which is based on 1999 census figures, to prove cattle depletion. But in fact, this report indicates increase in buffalo population in Andhra Pradesh, despite operation of the Al- Kabeer project. b. There are sufficient number of useless buffaloes to meet Al- Kabeer's capacity, if figures over a year, and not simply a given day, are taken into account. In one year, 9. 4 lakh useless buffaloes are available in Andhra Pradesh, much more than the requirement of Al-Kabeer. c. The appellants had mistakenly inferred that useful buffaloes are being slaughtered by Al-Kabeer but the report shows that, since milk production has increased along with meat export, therefore young and productive animals are not being slaughtered. Further Al-Kabeer in C.A. No. 3968/1994 made the following reply :- a. The compliance by Al-Kabeer with the Andhra Pradesh Animal Preservation Act is monitored by the officials deputed by the Director, Animal Husband....
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....tent authority is obtained certifying that the animal is fit for slaughter. Sub-section (2) of Section 6 of the Act prohibits slaughtering of animals unless the competent authority grants a certificate in respect of an animal that it is not likely to become economical for the purpose of breeding, milching or draught. After carefully reading the conditions for obtaining a permission from the competent authority to slaughter an animal, we find that slaughtering an animal requires the following: (a) Only old and useless buffaloes can be slaughtered. (b) Buffaloes fit for milching, breeding or draught cannot be slaughtered. (c) Cow and its progeny including calves of cows and calves of buffaloes cannot be slaughtered. In order to see whether those conditions are fulfilled by Al-Kabeer, the Director, Animal Husbandry of State of Andhra Pradesh has deputed necessary officials of the rank of Veterinary Asstt. Surgeons to the plant of the company to monitor and undertake anti-mortem and post-mortem examinations and to implement the provisions of the Act. As noted hereinearlier, in the interim direction made by this Court in these appeals on 12th March 1997 ( 1997 (3) SCC 707 ),....
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....g and this has clearly indicated that Al-Kabeer working has no adverse impact on the buffalo population in Telangana region on in Medal area where the abattoir is located." The detailed report at yet another place states: "A comparison of the estimated population of buffaloes in milk during the four year period before working of Al-Kabeer abattoir and after working of Al-Kabeer abattoir indicates that similar to milch buffaloes, population of buffaloes in milk also increased during the four year period after working of Al-Kabeer abattoir. The increase is 23.40 percent in Medak and contiguous districts, 24.33 percent in Telangana and 17.17 percent in Andhra & Rayalaseema. An overall increase of 19.61 percent in the Andhra Pradesh State is observed. This clearly indicates that productive buffaloes are not slaughtered in Al-Kabeer abattoir as stated by the appellant and there would not be depletion of buffalo population as a result of Al-Kabeer functioning." In conclusion the report states: From the above it could be inferred that Al- Kabeer working at full capacity does not result in buffalo population either in any area of Andhra Pradesh or in the country " ( Em....
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....7846 333989 (+) Adilabad 208823 301014 (+) Karimnagar 448896 441361 (-) Warangal 438324 486779 (+) Khhammam 498537 565810 (+) Nalgonda 622827 592271 (-) PERCENTAGE VARIATION Year A.P.State Telangana Region 1999 census (over1993 census) 2003 census (over1999 census) + 5.3% +4.6% + 10.35% + 10.91% The appellant sought to challenge the veracity and correctness of the figures given in the report of the Central Govt. as well as in the Quinquennial census. In our view, this submission is devoid of merit. It is now well-settled by various decisions of this Court that the findings of expert bodies in technical and scientific matters would not ordinarily be interfered with by courts in the exercise of their power under Art. 226 of the Constitution or by this Court under Art.136 or 32 of the Constitution. For this proposition, reliance can be placed on the decision of this Court in the case Systopic Laboratories (Pvt.) Ltd. vs. Dr. Prem Gupta & Ors. (1994 Sup....
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....Karansad and Dr.J.P. Wali, Assistant Professor of Medicine, AIIMS, New Delhi, Dr. M.Durairaj Consultant, Cardiologist, Director of Cardiology, Poona Hospital and Research Centre, Pune was also member of the Sub-Committee and had attended the meeting held on January 15/16, 1988. It cannot, therefore, be said that the medical experts in clinical medicine were not associated in the Experts Committee for evaluation of the material that was furnished by the manufacturers." ( Emphasis supplied ) Similar is the view expressed by this Court in K.Vasudevan Nair & Ors. Vs. U.O.I. & Ors. (1991 Supp. (2) SCC 134). We have in detail noticed the report of the Krishnan Committee and its recommendations in the earlier part of this judgment. In our view, Krishnan Committee has also not recommended closure of the unit because of cattle depletion but on the other hand suggested some measures that may be taken to minimize cattle depletion. For the reasons aforesaid and in view of the discussions made hereinabove and after considering the reports submitted by the committee of the Central Govt. and the 16th and 17th Quinquennial census and report of the Krishnan Committee , we do not find any reas....
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.... of meat violates constitutional provisions. According to the appellant, the policy of the Govt. to encourage slaughter for export is subject to judicial review as policies which violate constitutional provisions are reviewable. This policy violates Art. 39(b) and (c) of the Constitution as it serves to concentrate profits from cattle wealth in a few hands. It was further submitted by Akhil Bharat Goseva Sangh that not only this policy violates Art. 47 of the Constitution as it leads to malnutrition but also Art. 48 which contains a positive command to the State to preserve and improve breeds and prohibit slaughter of milch and draught cattle regardless of their usefulness . The learned counsel has also contended that this policy also violates Art. 21 by depriving the society of the useful benefits of animals. It was further submitted that the A.P. Act, 1977 does not mention any specific age limit under which cattle slaughter is prohibited and therefore the determination of healthy and useful cattle is subjective and with a scope of maneuverability. Although no provision of the aforesaid Act prescribes the age of any slaughterable buffalo but the A.P. animal husbandry manual prescr....
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....We have already discussed the decline of cattle population because of the operation of Al-Kabeer in this judgment hereinbefore. In Mohd. Hanif Qureshi's case reported in [1959 SCR 629] the issue was not whether the population of live stock was increasing or not but whether the population of healthy live stock was increasing. Although it was sought to be argued by the appellant that due to slaughter of buffaloes by Al-Kabeer, the population of healthy buffaloes was declining even then in view of our discussion made hereinearlier, it must be confirmed that there is no depletion of cattle/buffalo wealth due to operation of Al-Kabeer. Apart from that, it appears from the record that Al-Kabeer slaughterhouse was built in accordance with European Economic Community Standards and is one of the most modern, scientific, integrated slaughterhouses in India with an installed capacity of 15000 MT. If in any way Al-Kabeer is directed to close down their factory the said action on the part of the Central Government would be to discourage private entrepreneurs to invest in the meat industry which will affect the reputation of India in the export market of meat. As we have already noted, the i....
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.... upon fundamental rights. However, striking down a law or policy on the ground that it violates a directive principle or fundamental duty was not an issue before the Constitution Bench of this Court in the case of State of Gujarat vs. Mirzapur (supra). It is true that in the aforesaid Constitution Bench decision it has been held that total prohibition of cow and cow progeny slaughter may be justified. However, it has not been held in that decision that laws and policies which permit such slaughter are unconstitutional. Therefore, the position of law remains that the directive principles and fundamental duties cannot in themselves serve to invalidate a legislation or a policy. Moreover, the export policy itself permits only export of meat from buffaloes that are certified as not useful for milching, breeding or draught purposes. Therefore, if properly implemented, it cannot be said that the policy will necessarily have adverse consequences, especially in view of the foreign exchange obtained through it. Accordingly, we are unable to accede to the argument of the learned counsel for the appellant that the meat export policy, as made by the Central Government must to be struck down. ....
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....rs necessary. 8. Finally, the Central Govt. is directed to review the meat export policy, in the light of the Directive Principles of State Policy under the Constitution of India, and also in the light of the policy's potentially harmful effects on livestock population, and therefore on the economy of the country. However, we keep it open to the Central Government and the State Government to consider the distance prohibitions as indicated in the LOI, the Notifications and General Order of the State Government and in the event, the Central Government or the State Government comes to the conclusion that the abattoir cannot be permitted to run their business at the site in question, in that case, the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be, shall be entitled to proceed in accordance with law. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, and in view of the fact that this Court by an interim order granted stay of the operation of the direction of the High Court for initiating a prosecution of Dr. Kishan Rao ( Appellant in C.A. No. 3966/1994 ) under section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure read with Section 191 of the Indian Penal Code, we....
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....hearing the learned counsel for the parties all the three Writ Petitions were rejected by the High Court by a common judgment dated 16th March 1998. Against this judgment the present appeals have been preferred by the appellants which were admitted by this Court on grant of special leave and heard in presence of the learned counsel for the respective parties. The relevant facts which are required to be taken into consideration in deciding these appeals are enumerated below. The three Writ Petitions filed in the High Court were in the nature of Public Interest Litigations and the petitioners were prosecuting the Writ Petitions before the Court in representative capacity. The first appellant herein is an honourary Animal Welfare Officer of the Animal Board of India. Second appellant herein i.e. Hindu Jagarana Vedike is an organization which is working to uphold Hindu values and is interested in protecting sanctity of "cow". The third appellant herein is a native of Kodagu district and belongs to Kodava community of Hindus. The fourth appellant herein is a practicing Advocate and resident of Bangalore city. In the erstwhile State of Coorg which now forms part of Karnataka State the....
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....pose a total prohibition of slaughter of bovine cattle and whether a writ must be issued directing the State to prohibit slaughter of all bovine cattle in the State of Karnataka? Before we decide these questions, we may keep in mind the findings arrived at by the High Court of Karnataka in the impugned judgment. As noted herein earlier, we find from the reliefs claimed in all the three aforesaid Writ Petitions, a prayer was made seeking a writ in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondents to strictly enforce the provisions of Sections 4, 8 to 11 and 18 of the 1964 Act in Chamarajnagar Taluk of Mysore District, Coorg District, Kodagu District and also to direct the State Government to establish institutions for taking care of cows and other animals in accordance with the aforesaid provisions of the Act at the earliest. In paragraph 8, the High Court concluded in the impugned order on this relief in favour of the appellants and found that " it is needless to state that the Government and its officers are required to strictly enforce and implement the provisions of the Act". (Emphasis supplied). That being the conclusion made by the High Court in the body of the judgme....
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.... however, not accepted in the aforesaid Constitution Bench decision in the case of State of Gujarat vs. Mirzapur [(2005) 8 SCC 534]. The Constitution Bench noted that after the decision in Kesavananda Bharathi vs. State of Kerala [1973 (4) SCC 225] the position is : "A restriction placed on any fundamental right aimed at securing Directive Principles will be held as reasonable and hence intra vires subject to two limitations : first that it does not run in clear conflict with the fundamental right, and secondly that it has been enacted within the legislative competence of the enacting legislature under Part XI Chapter I of the Constitution." ( Emphasis supplied ) In Paragraph 22 of the decision in the case of State of Gujarat Vs. Mirzapur it has been held as follows: "The restrictions which can be placed on the rights listed in Article 19(1) are not subject only to Articles 19(2) to 19(6); the provisions contained in the Chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy can also be pressed into service and relied on for the purpose of adjudging the reasonability of restrictions placed on the fundamental rights."(Emphasis supplied). Further, in the case of State of Gujarat....
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....h or draught for a number of years during its span of life is to be included within the said expression. On ceasing to be milch or draught it cannot be pulled out from the category of 'other milch and draught cattle." (Emphasis supplied). Such being the position and in view of the Constitution Bench decision as aforesaid, it can no longer be held that the protection recommended by this part of the directive under Art. 48 of the Constitution can be said to be confined only to cows and calves and those animals which are presently capable of yielding milk or of doing work as draught cattle. The aforesaid Constitution Bench decision has clarified that the protection under Art. 48 of the Constitution also extends to cattle which at one time were milch or draught but which have ceased to be such. A submission was made by the learned counsel for the parties on the usefulness of cattle. In 1958 Quareshi's case it was held that cattle becomes useless after a certain age which is for the Legislature to determine and thereafter their maintenance is a burden on the economy of the country. This position has also been negatived by the decision of the Constitution Bench in the aforesai....