BANGALORE: The High Court on Thursday directed the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) to give an undertaking that it will provide the exact acreage of land that was assured to a company to construct a modern slaughterhouse at Harohalli on Kanakapura Road.
Justice L Narayanaya Swamy passed the order following a submission by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) stating that KIADB had only provided 38 acres of land, but in the records, shows 40 acres. The court was hearing a petition filed by Chennai-based Capri Meat House Private Limited alleging that the BBMP and the Urban Development Department were not providing basic facilities to construct the slaughterhouse. The company also said it needed water, electricity and a compound wall, without which it cannot continue work.
Justice Swamy also directed the BBMP to provide all facilities to construct the slaughterhouse.
A public interest petition was filed in the HC seeking expeditious shifting of slaughterhouses from the city. In 2002, the HC directed the government to build a separate slaughterhouse on the outskirts of the city, but the authorities had not taken steps to comply with court orders.
The government had granted `1.5 crore for the construction of the slaughterhouse at Iglur near Anekal. Following protest from locals, it was shifted to Harohalli. As the BBMP and UDD did not give any facilities to the building company which got the tender, it approached the court.
Slaughter Law
The Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976 says, “No person shall slaughter within the city, except in a corporation or licensed slaughterhouse, any cattle, horse, sheep, goat or pig for sale of meat or skin, or cut up any carcass without or otherwise, than in conformity with a licence from the commissioner.”