Mumbai: The Bombay high court has granted relief to 20 meat sellers in Nalas-opara, terming the revocation of their licences by the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation as “arbitrary”.
The corporation, which claimed that the beef was seized from areas around the shops, had revoked the licences on suspicion that they were selling beef.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice P.N. Deshmukh was hearing a petition filed by 20 meat shop owners from Nalasopara. They had challenged notice issued to them by the corporation to shut their shops and suspend their licence to sell meat. The civic body had alleged that on December 15-16 last year, it seized around 550kg of beef from the area where the meat shops are located. Subsequently, the corporation had initiated an inquiry. Suspecting that the beef might have come from one of the local meat sellers, it suspended the licences of all meat sellers in the locality. The corporation had also written to the police asking it to ensure that the meat shops were shut.
The court on Tuesday asked, “Can the corporation suspend licences of the meat sellers, who had apparently not breached any terms and conditions?”
