Patna, Feb. 17: High court today directed Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) commissioner Divesh Sehra to appear in court on March 8 in connection with a case pertaining to the closure of illegal slaughter house in the state capital’s Shahganj area.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Rekha M. Doshit and Justice Jyoti Saran passed the direction on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Chandrashekhar Kumar.

Chandrashekhar had been seeking direction to the government to close down all illegal slaughter houses running in the Shahganj area, without obtaining licence from an appropriate authority.

On February 9, the bench directed the commissioner to appear in the court after perusing the report of a four-member committee, which visited the site in question. The committee stated that illegal slaughtering was still going on in the area.

However, the commissioner was not present in the court today during the hearing of the case. The bench, which initially directed the court employees to inquire if the commissioner came, observed that lawyers are abstaining from work, not officers of the state government.

When the petitioner pressed for an argument, the court observed that since the opponent is not present in court the matter cannot be heard. The case can be taken up for hearing the next date when the other side appears in court.

Kumar, who appeared before the bench, submitted that illegal slaughtering was still going on in the area making the place unhygienic and inhospitable due to pollution caused by the discharge of slaughterhouses into the drains.

He contended that the PMC had closed down all illegal slaughterhouses in that area in 2004. However, despite the corporation’s order slaughtering houses have continued business unabated.

The court had taken a serious note of the functioning of illegal slaughterhouses on November 15. It asked why, despite assurances, the authorities did not shift them to a different place.

As a result, the people of the area have been forced to live in unhygienic conditions. Thousands of people who reside in the area have complained of the problems they face, several times in the past.

Even in the past, Patna High Court has come down heavily on PMC for failing to get rid of the illegal slaughterhouses in the area.