Court No. - 40
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 20526 of 2021 Petitioner :- Umardaraj And 3 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Bhaju Ram Pprasad Sharma,Arvind Kumar Srivastava Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J. Hon'ble Jayant Banerji,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioners; learned Standing Counsel for the respondents 1 to 5; and have perused the record.
The case of the petitioners is that they held licence for meat retail shop under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules; and that as there existed no requirement for any further licence, they continued with their business and have also applied for renewal of that licence but to no avail. Now, the police have started interfering in their business and extracting money from them. Consequently, they approached the authority concerned for grant of licence under the appropriate law but were informed that there existed no provision for such licence.
The petitioners have thus filed this petition for a direction upon the respondents not to interfere in the peaceful running of meat shop by the petitioners.
On 03.09.2021, learned Standing Counsel was required to seek instructions as to whether any licence is required for running a retail meat shop. If so, under which provision.
Pursuant to the order dated 03.09.2021, learned Standing Counsel has obtained written instructions from the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mathura.
As per his instructions, licence for a retail meat shop is required under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Rules framed thereunder whereas the petitioners hold no such licence. The instructions also indicate that by gazette notification dated 10th September, 2021, the area where the petitioners conducted their business has been notified as a prohibited zone for retail of meat on religious grounds.
On a query put by us to the learned counsel for the petitioners as to whether the petitioners hold licence to retail meat under the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Rules framed thereunder, the learned counsel for the petitioners stated that the petitioners do not hold any such licence.
Further, the petitioners have not challenged the notification prohibiting sale of meat in the area concerned.
In view of the above, we dismiss the petition by leaving it open to the petitioners to apply for food licence in accordance with law and to challenge the notification, if so advised.
The written instructions provided by the learned Standing Counsel shall be retained on record.
Order Date :- 20.9.2021 AKShukla/-