al kabeer judgement

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PREFACE

 

Some time in late 80s the Central Government declared a policy of free export

of meat and meat products from the country. During the period of 1990-91 when

the country was facing acute shortage of foreign exchange reserve, the export

of meat was declared as a thrust area for export earning and was given several

incentives by the Government. Pursuant to this policy, about 30/40 mechanised

mega slaughter houses were established in the private sector by exporters of

meat. One of the earliest project was that of M/s. Al-kabeer Exports Ltd.

 

M/s. Al-Kabeer Exports Ltd. initially set up their project at Bhiwandi near

Mumbai in Maharashtra. There was stiff resistance from the local population

and there was police firing on the agitationists in which four youths lost

their lives. This forced the Government of Maharashtra to order M/s.

Al-Kabeer Exports Ltd. not to proceed with the project implementation at

Bhiwandi. This order of Maharashtra Government was challenged by M/s.

Al-Kabeer Exports Ltd. in Bombay High Court and the Bombay High Court upheld

order of the Government forcing M/s. Al-Kabeer Exports Ltd. to wind up their

project at Bhiwandi.

 

Later on, M/s. Al-Kabeer Exports Ltd. set up the same project at Village

Rudraram, Pattancheru Mandal of Medak District in Andhra Pradesh, which is very

close to the capital city of Hyderabad. The project at the new location also

met with stiff resistance from the local population. In addition, Akhil

Bharat Krishi Goseva Sangh (an associate organization of Viniyog Parivar Trust,

Mumbai) and three other individuals viz. Smt. Satyavani, Shri Tukoji and Dr.

Kishan Rao filed Writ petitions in Andhra Pradesh High Court praying for

closure of the slaughter house. Towards end of 1993 these petitions were

dismissed by the A.P. High Court against which all the four petitioners filed

appeals before the Supreme Court of India in 1994 (Appeal Nos. 3964-68 of

1994).

 

All these appeals were heard intermittently over a period of 10 years between

1994 and 2004. The Supreme Court passed two interim orders in the meantime -

one in 1994 and the other in 1997. The Central Government and the State

Government filed a few reports in pursuance of these orders. The Appellants

made submissions demolishing these reports and placed before the Supreme Court

the adverse impact of the meat export policy in detail, supported with

authentic data and documents. The Appellants prayed for not only closure of

slaughter house of M/s. Al-Kabeer Exports Ltd. but also quashing the meat

export policy of the Central Government.

 

The final hearing of the Appeals was concluded on 23-9-2004 and the judgement

was reserved. For some unknown reasons the Judgement was delivered after 18

months of its reservation, on 29-3-06.

 

The Judgement contains 8 directions; some directed to Al-Kabeer Exports Ltd.,

some directed to the A.P. Pollution Control Board and some directed towards the

State and Central Government. The most important direction is to the Central

Government reading as under:

 

"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."

 

The full judgement is published for information of people interested in this

issue.

 

With this Judgement, now the ball is in the court of Central Government and all

concerned need to make efforts to persuade the Central Government to quash its

meat export policy in national interest.

 

 

 

3rd April, 2006 -- Viniyog

Parivar Trust

 

 

 

 

JUDGEMENT OF HON'BLE THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

 

IN

 

AKHIL BHARAT KRISHI GOSEVA SANGH

 

V/S.

 

A.P. POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD AND OTHERS

 

(CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3968 OF 1994

 

WITH

 

CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 3964-67 OF 1994)

 

 

 

(POPULARLY KNOWN AS AL-KABEER CASE)

 

 

 

 

COPIES CIRCULATED BY :

 

 

 

Viniyog Parivar Trust

 

B-2/104, Vaibhav, Jambli Gali,

 

Borivli (West),

 

Mumbai-400 092.

 

Tel. 2898 0749 / 2899 1781