The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to ensure that no illegal slaughtering of animals is carried out during the Bakrid festival at a residential colony in south Mumbai.

Bakrid or Eid-al-Adha will be celebrated on Thursday.

In a special urgent hearing held after the regular court hours, a division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain said slaughtering can be permitted at Nathani Heights society only if licence is granted by the civic body.

"In the event, the Municipal Corporation has not issued a licence to undertake slaughtering of animals at the said place, the officers of the Municipal Corporation with the aid of the police personnel shall take appropriate action in accordance with law to prevent slaughtering of animals proposed for tomorrow," the court said.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by one Haresh Jain, a resident of the society, seeking complete ban on slaughtering of animals there.

Advocate Joel Carlos, appearing for the BMC, said a complete ban cannot be issued.

Carlos said the civic body's officers would inspect the society premises and if there is any violation then appropriate action would be taken.

The bench said in its order that in the event an action is required to be taken then the police station concerned shall provide appropriate police assistance to the officers of the municipal corporation in the event an action is required to be taken.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.