New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Monday banned slaughtering of birds in the Ghazipur murga mandi in the national capital. Only selling of live birds will be permitted in the area, the court said in its interim order.

“Taking note of the circumstances, we have no option but to direct that in the Ghazipur murga mandi, no slaughtering of birds will be permitted henceforth. Only sale of birds will be permitted,” said a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V.K. Rao. The court asked the authorities to file within a week the compliance report on its order. The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) alleging that poultry birds are being traded and slaughtered illegally at the mandi.

The court asked the authorities to come up with a plan to set up a designated slaughterhouse in the area and till then the interim order will remain in operation. The bench noted that after conducting an inspection at the mandi on April 24, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) had given its report highlighting the violations. The DPCC, represented by advocate Sanjeev Ralli, on April 24 had directed closure of the slaughterhouses operating from inside the AAP government’s Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board (DAMB) premises at the mandi. However, even after five months, the slaughtering is still taking place there, the bench noted.

The counsel representing the traders at the mandi submitted that if slaughtering is banned the birds will be sold to individual shopkeepers and the activity will take place there as well. He said the decision to ban slaughtering will affect their livelihood. The court said it cannot permit anything which is contrary to law and the activities are causing water pollution. “Let the traders deal with the statutory authorities, no sympathy with all these things. We are concerned with the larger issue of pollution in the area,” it said.