NHRC in High Court on non removal of illegal abattoirs<br>

The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court, Uttar Pradesh seeking directions to the Uttar Pradesh Government for banning illegal abattoirs on corporation land and related activities leading to various health hazards and environmental pollution in Meerut. During the hearing of the matter on the 9th March, 2011, the respondents pointed out that they have taken steps and sought time to file a counter affidavit. It was also pointed out that various writ petitions are pending before the High Court in which interim orders have been granted. Therefore, all the pending writ petitions may be clubbed along with the writ petition filed by the NHRC. The Court ordered that let the respondent first file a counter affidavit in the matter as pleaded by them and fixed the next date of hearing for the 30th March, 2011.
It may be recalled that the illegal abat-toirs and about two hundred furnaces have been causing water and air pollution within a radius of 2.5 kms in a densely populated area in Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh. The Commission found that despite the District Magistrate and the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Meerut assuring removal of this illegal activity from the corporation land, the ground reality is different. Therefore, the Commission summoned the Chief Secretary, Uttar Pradesh, DIG-cum-SSP, Municipal Commissioner and District Magistrate, Meerut and Chairman, State Pollution Control Board. In its notice to them, the Commission said that "the right to health is not only a vital human right, but also a fundamental right, guaranteed in the Constitution. If the health of the citizens is affected due to pollution and the local administration shows a lackadaisical approach in resolving the problem, the Commission cannot keep waiting as a helpless spectator and it has to take effective steps."
Since, the Uttar Pradesh Government failed to fulfill its assurance to comply with the recommendations of NHRC in the matter, the Commission approached the High Court for seeking its intervention in the matter.