Don’t permit slaughtering of animals at retail meat shops, insists a PIL before Madras High Court

A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court to prevent the slaughtering of animals either within or behind the retail shops that sell mutton, chicken, or beef and ensure that it takes place only in authorised slaughterhouses of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).

A special Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice R. Suresh Kumar is slated to hear the PIL plea during the commencement of court hearings at the Additional Heritage Court Building, which once housed the prestigious Madras Law College, from Monday (March 2, 2026).

Chennai-based activist S. Muralidharan had filed the PIL. He said, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001 make it clear that no animal should be slaughtered within a municipal area except in a slaughter house recognised or licensed by the authorities concerned.

The reason for imposing such a restriction was to prevent slaughtering of animals which were pregnant or had an offspring that was less than three months old or were under the age of three months or had not been certified by a veterinarian to be in a fit condition to be slaughtered.

The 2001 Rules require the municipal authorities to establish slaughter houses where a veterinarian shall thoroughly examine, not more than 12 animals in an hour and not more than 96 animals in a day, before issuing a fitness certificate. The rules also insist upon isolating sick animals unfit for slaughter.

Further, Rule 5 insists on making the animals rest in a lairage after the veterinary inspection and for about 24 hours before slaughtering, and Rule 6 makes it clear that no animal shall be slaughtered in the sight of other animals and no chemical, drug, or hormone should be injected before slaughter.

The rules also insist upon stunning of animals before slaughter, bleeding and dressing of the carcasses, and state that the blood draining and collection in the slaughterhouses should be done immediately and properly. Several other conditions related to maintenance of hygiene too were a part of the statutory rules.

However, none of them gets followed properly when the animals get slaughtered at retail shops illegally. The blood gets drained into the local stormwater drains, and the animal waste gets dumped in garbage bins, thereby posing a serious threat to the environment besides causing health hazards, the petitioner said.

He sought a direction to the GCC and the Commissioner of Food Safety to strictly implement the 2001 Rules and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, by carrying out periodic inspections at the meat retail outlets and ensuring strict implementation of the licensing and enforcement regime.