S. C. AGRAWAL, J. - (1.) M/s Jaipur Meat Merchants Association, the petitioner in this writ petition, is incorporated under the Rajasthan Non-Trading Companies Act, 1960. It is an association of Halali Meat vendors holding licences issued by Jaipur Municipal Council (hereinafter referred to as 'the Municipal Council' ). In this writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the validity of the notice (Annexure 3) dated 14th January, 1988 issued by the Municipal Council whereby it was directed that all shops for selling meat and fish would remain closed on the 16 days mentioned in the said notification and in addition to that shops selling Halali meat would remain closed on every Friday and the shops selling Jhataka meat would remain closed one every Purnima.
(2.) NOTICE was issued to the Municipal Council requiring it to show cause as to why the writ petition may not be admitted and in response to the said notice a reply on behalf of the Municipal Council. During pendency of this writ petition, the impugned notification dated 14th January, 1988 was superseded by notification dated 8th July, 1988 whereby in addition to the 16 days on which shops selling meat were required to be closed, it has been directed that all the shops of Halali and Jhataka meat vendors would be closed on every Friday. In the writ petition, as filed by the petitioner, one of the questions which was raised was with regard to discrimination between the vendors of Halali meat and vendors of Jhataka meat and the sub-mission of the petitioner was that under the notification dated 14th January, 1988 the vendors of Halali meat were being subjected to arbitrary and hostile discrimination as compared to vendors of Jhataka meat inasmuch as the vendors of Halali meat were required to close their shops on every Friday in the week whereas the vendors of Jhataka meat were required to close their shops on every Purnima in the month. The said grievance of the petitioner no longer survives now in view of the notification dated 8th July, 1988 whereby the said discrimination between the vendors of Halali meat and Jhataka meat has been removed and the vendors of Halali meat as well as Jhataka meat are all required to close their shops on every Friday in a week. We may now deal with the other grievance of the petitioner, namely, that the Municipal Council is not legally competent to issue the notification directing the closure of the shops of vendors of Halali meat. In this regard it may be mentioned that in ground (v) in the writ petition, the petitioner has stated that in terms of the powers conferred under sub-section (2) of Section 11 of the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958. the State Government vide its notification published in the Rajasthan Gazette Extraordinary dated 3rd August, 1979 exempted shops and commercial establishments dealing mainly in meat, first and poultry etc. from the provisions of sections 11 and 12 of the said Act and has allowed them to open their shops throughout the year. The case of the petitioner is that in view of the aforesaid exemption under the provisions of the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, it was not open to the Municipal Council to withdraw the said exemption and require the vendors of Halali meat to close their shops ends in a week on every Friday. We find that the said statement in the writ petition is not correct. By notification dated August 3, 1959 issued under sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, the State Government had exempted shops and commercial establishments dealing mainly in meat, fish, poultry, eggs, milk and milk products, sweets, Ice-cream, cooked foods, fruits, flowers vegetables, betel leaves chatbhandars from the provisions of Sections 11 and 12 of the said Act and they were permitted to remain open through out the year. The said notification was, however, superseded by a subsequent notification dated February 14, 1975. By the notifi-cation dated February 14, 1975 the exemption from the provisions of Section 11 (1) and 12 of the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958 was confined to shops and commercial establishments dealing exclusively in fish, poultry eggs, milk and milk products, sweets, fruits, flowers, vegetable, betel leaves and Chat Bhandar. As a result of the said notification exemption was no longer available in respect of shops and commercial establishments dealing in meat. Shri Dalip Singh, the learned counsel for the petitioner, was unable to show any notification published in the Rajasthan Gazette Extraordinary dated 3rd August, 1979 granting exemption in respect of shops and commercial establishments dealing mainly in meat from the provisions of Sections 11 and 12 of the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, This means that no exemption is available in respect of shops and commercial establishments dealing in meat from the provisions of the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act and the vendors of meat are required to comply with the provisions of the said Act and to observe a weekly holiday. Shri Dalip Singh has, however, urged that even if, in view of the provisions of the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act the vendors of meat are required to close their shops for one day in a week the Municipal Council has no power under the Rajasthan Municipalities Act 1959 or the bye-laws framed there under to direct them to close their shops on a particular day and that notification dated 8th July, 1988 whereby the vendors of Halali as well as Jhataka meat have been required to close their shops on every Friday, is ultra vires the powers conferred on the Municipal Council under the provisions of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 1959 A perusal of the notification dated 8th July, 1988 shows that the notification has been issued in exercise of the powers conferred by section 236 of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act. Section 236 of the said Act empowers a Municipal Board, from time to time, to open or close any public market or slaughter house. The question which needs to be considered is whether the expression 'public market' in section 236 would cover the shops of vendors of meat. In this connection it may be mentioned that Section 236 forms part of part (7) of Chapter IX relating to regulation of markets, sale of food etc. The said part contains Sections 235, 236 and 237. In Section 235, it is provided that it shall be lawful for the Municipal Board to direct that no place not belonging to or vested in it shall be used for the purposes specified in clause (b) of sub-section (1) of Section 90 except under and in accordance with the condition of a licence from the Board which may from time to time grant, suspend, withhold or withdraw such licences either generally or in individual cases. Sub-section (1) of Section 90 contains the power to make by-laws not inconsistent with the Municipalities Act in respect of matters specified in clauses (a) to (e) Sub-clause (ii) of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of Sec. 90 empowers making of bye-laws prescribing the conditions on or subject to which, and the circumstances in which, and the areas or localities in respect of which licences may be granted, refused, suspended or withdrawn from the use of any place not belonging to the Board as a market or shop for the sale of animals intended for human food or of meat, or of fish, or as a market for the sale of fruits or vegetables. This shows that Part (3) includes within its ambit a shop for the sale of meat. It must, therefore, be held that Section 236 is wide enough to cover a shop for the sale of meat and in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 236 it was permissible for the Municipal Council to direct to fax a particular day in the week for closure of all the shops of vendors of Halali as well as Jhataka meat.
(3.) WE may also mention that in the reply filed on behalf of the Municipal Council it is stated that Friday in the week has been chosen as the day for the closure of the shops selling meat for the reason that the slaughter houses of the Municipal Council are closed on Friday and since there is no slaughtering of animals on Friday meat will not be available to the meat vendors on Fridays. If the vendors of meat are permitted to sell meat on Fridays they would be selling meat of animals slaughtered on the previous day. The direction for closure of the shops of vendors of meat on Fridays thus prevents the sale of stale meat which may be injurious to public health. The said direction is, therefore, in the interest of the public health. In the circumstances we are of the opinion that no case is made out for interference under Article 226 of the Constitution. The writ petition, therefore, fails and is hereby dismissed. The interim order passed by this Court is vacated. No order as to costs. . ;