New Delhi: The Bombay high court has refused urgent relief to Jain charitable trusts who had asked for a nine-day closure of slaughterhouses in Mumbai during a Jain festival, Paryushan Parv, saying that no law mandates such a closure.

A division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep Marne was hearing a batch of petitions filed by the Jain groups Sheth Motishaw Lalbaug Jain Charities, Shwetambar Murtipujak Tapagachha Jain Sangh Trust, Sheth Bherulalji Kaniyalalji Kothari Religious Trust, and Shree Tapagachha Uday Kalyan Jain Shwetambar Murtipujak Trust, according to The Hindu.

The organisations had challenged the Mumbai civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s, August 14 order noting that slaughterhouses will close only on August 24 and August 27, for Ganesh Chaturthi.

The court, according to Bar and Bench, said that it cannot issue a writ of mandamus to any state authority since there is no law or rule to the effect that slaughterhouses must be closed during the Jain festival.

"You are seeking Manadamus. For that, there have to be mandate in law. Where is the law? Where does it say that that slaughter houses must be closed for 10 days?" the bench asked.

The report said that the bench held that the present case was different from the Hinsa Virodhak Sangh case in which the Supreme Court had upheld a decision of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to close down slaughter houses during the Jain festival.

"You will appreciate the difficulty. In Ahmedabad the corporation had taken a decision. But (in this case), there is no legislative mandate, no rule, no law, policy, no legally enforceable right that they must close. Where is that obligation? You understand the distinction," the court said.

Senior Advocate Prasad Dhakephalkar, among counsel representing petitioners, claimed that the BMC  had disproportionately considered the preferences of the non-vegetarian population, despite a "majority of Mumbaikars being vegetarians."

In lines widely quoted, Dhakephalkar also said that Mughal emperor Akbar had issued a fatwa prohibiting slaughter during Paryushan, but it has proven difficult for petitioners to get a similar order.

The court has issued notice to the BMC and adjourned the matter for two weeks to allow the petitioners to amend the plea, if they believe that the BMC's order did not take them into account.

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