LUCKNOW (TOI) : A Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Monday sought explanation from the state government and the Lucknow Municipal Corporation asking why meat shops were being forced to shut. It also slammed the civic body for its "lethargy" over the renewal of licences to run meat shops. Granting three days to the state and the LMC to file their response, the court set the matter for next hearing on April 3.

Meat sellers in Lucknow and several districts have shut their shops for the past three days in protest against the government's crackdown against illegal slaughterhouses and unlicensed outlets. A bench of Justice AP Sahi and Justice Sanjai Harkauli passed the order on a pending petition filed in 2015 by Shahabuddin and nine other shopkeepers. The petitioners had pleaded that they were granted licences to run meat shops and when the term of licence expired they applied for renewal.

"But the LMC seemed reluctant to renew the licences on the pretext that as per guidelines of the National green Tribunal, the LMC had no slaughterhouse of its own and as such the licences could not be renewed," the petition said. The petitioners' counsel, GC Sinha, argued that if the LMC had no slaughterhouses, it was no fault of the licence holders.

The petitioners alleged that LMC officials allowed to run the shops after taking bribes. "If the licences were granted, the shopkeepers would not need to bribe them, therefore LMC officials were reluctant," he said. On the said petition, the court had in 2015 directed the state and the LMC to file response but the same was not filed till date.