Mumbai, Aug 21: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday instructed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to improve the online mechanism it has adopted to grant permission for animal slaughter.

The bench, while hearing a petition challenging the BMC's modus operandi for granting slaughter permits on Bakra Eid, said the issue recurs annually. The court asked the civic body to frame a mechanism which is more reliable and stringent.

"This should not be made a year on year issue for litigation. The online permission system needs improvements. BMC should come up with regulatory mechanism," the bench headed by acting Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Girish Kulkarni was reported as saying.

The petition, filed by an NGO Jiv Maitri Trust, accused the BMC of using no regulatory mechanism while granting slaughter permits. The NGO cited a recent case when a fake online user, with the name of Neil Armstrong, obtained permission to slaughter five goats "inside the high court room".

Representing the Jiv Maitri Trust, advocate Sujay Kantawala said the BMC is approving applications for slaughter with "no application of mind whatsoever".

BMC's counsel Anil Sakhare refuted the charge, saying the technical gaffes and gaps in regulatory mechanism would be looked into by the civic body. Moreover, he claimed, the permission has been granted only in cases where no inconvenience will be caused and adequate arrangement will be put in place for waste disposal.

According to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the slaughtering of animals in public mounts to an offence. As per the law, the animals could be slaughtered only in the designated abattoirs. The BMC, however, grants permission for animal sacrifice on religious occasions.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 21, 2018 03:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).