JUDGMENT

G.S. Patel, J. - This Petition, fled under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeks the following reliefs:

"(a) That this Hon''ble Court be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ, order or direction of this Hon''ble Court quashing and setting aside the letter of the Respondents dated 20th July 1991 being Exhibit E hereto and declare the same as null and void and no efect in law;

(b) That the Respondents their agents, and representatives be restrained by a perceptual order of injunction of this Hon''ble Court from acting pursuant to the aforesaid letter dated 20th July 1991 being Exhibit E hereto and in any was interfering and/or disturbing with the slaughtering of sheeps and goats by the members of the Petitioners who have been granted licences to do so in their shop, a list of whom is annexed hereto as Ex. D to the Petition;

(c) That the Respondents be directed by an Order and direction of this Hon''ble Court to process the Applications of the other members of the petitioners for the purpose of obtaining licences to slaughter sheep and goats in their respective premises and dispose the same in accordance with law and in spirit of letter dated 6th April 1991;"

2. We have heard Mr Vijay Kurle for the Petitioner and Mr Sakhare, learned senior counsel for the Respondent, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai ("MCGM") at length.

3. Before we proceed further, we note that the present Writ Petition was previously tagged with the Public Interest Litigation No. 197 of 2014 (Ajay Marathe v State of Maharashtra and Ors). We are now separating that Public Interest Litigation which will then be taken up separately by the appropriate bench.

4. Since there is a reply afdavit as also additional afdavits, we dispense with the issuance of Rule and take up the petition itself.

5. The Petitioner, The Bombay Suburban Khatik Association, is an association registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860. It is an association of butchers and mutton and sheep-meat vendors in Mumbai. The 1st Respondent is the Mumbai Municipal Corporation ("MMC"). The 2nd Respondent is its Municipal Commissioner. The 3rd Respondent is the Jeevan Jagruti Trust with which we are presently not concerned.

6. The Petition states that before 1973, the slaughter of sheep and goats was being done at a slaughter house in Bandra in Mumbai. Since the municipal authorities perceived the need for a proper and appropriately provisioned slaughter house, they recommended the construction of a full-fedged abattoir. This proposal was frst initiated in 1968 when an abattoir near Deonar near Chembur was constructed. The Bandra slaughter house was demolished in 1973 and all animal slaughter operations were shifted to the Deonar abattoir. The petition says in paragraph 2 that the licensees found it difcult to get proper service at Deonar and that the abattoir there was going at a loss. Ultimately, after various representations being made to improve conditions and to increase efciency, licensees including the Petitioners, persuaded the municipal authorities to consider their case for permitting slaughter houses outside the Deonar abattoir. The Petitioners agree that they were heard by the municipal authorities in 1991. Finally, by a communication dated 6th April 1991 the municipal authorities informed the Petitioners that they were being granted individual licenses to slaughter sheep and goats. There were various conditions set out in this communication, a copy of which is at Exhibit "A" to the petition.

7. It is, therefore, appropriate that we turn to this document at this stage itself. We may only note that the averments in the petition that this communication of 6th April 1991 itself stated that the Deonar abattoir will be closed are entirely incorrect. There is no such statement in the letter in question. We feel it best to reproduce the communication in full to avoid all ambiguity.