The Hindu : New Delhi News : Supreme Court pulls up Centre, Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 07, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Supreme Court pulls up Centre, Delhi

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, NOV.6. The Supreme Court has pulled up the Centre and the Delhi Government for their changing stand on shifting the Idgah slaughter house in the Capital to another location in the city at Ghazipur. Taking a serious view of this, the Court has summoned the Union Urban Development Secretary and the Chief Secretary of the Delhi Government to appear personally on November 17.

A Bench of Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Justice S.B. Sinha criticised the Union Government for moving an application objecting to the Court's order directing the Government to shift the Idgah slaughter house to Ghazipur.

The abattoir is presently located at Idgah in the congested Walled City of Delhi. Its shifting was ordered more than a decade ago. Originally it was to be relocated on the outskirts of West Delhi, but in view of an agitation by the people in that area, its location was shifted to Ghazipur in East Delhi.

In its application the Centre contended that shifting the abattoir would pose a security threat to the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad.

Taking exception to the stand, the Bench reminded the Additional Solicitor-General, Amarendra Saran, that the decision to shift the abattoir was taken one year ago and wanted to know why the Air Force and the Government were sleeping over such a security threat and did not approach the Court earlier.

The Bench wondered whether the political leadership was busy appeasing the voters by not taking any decision. "What were you doing all these years?" the Bench asked Mr. Saran. "You come to the Court when you have a problem, and when we issue necessary directions you fail to implement them on some pretext or the other."

The Judges said that if the abattoir was to be shifted from Ghazipur, the Centre and the Delhi Government would have to pay to the Delhi Municipal Corporation the entire amount it had spent so far in setting up the new abattoir.

The Bench summoned the Union Urban Development Secretary and the Delhi Chief Secretary to be personally present in the Court on November 17 to explain why were they silent for one year.

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