Hyderabad: A law graduate has dragged Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) commissioner RV Karnan to the Telangana High Court for contempt, accusing him of defying a court order by shutting every slaughterhouse and meat shop in the city on Gandhi Jayanti.
According to The Times of India, Justice NV Shravan Kumar will hear the contempt petition on Monday, October 5. The plea was mentioned as a lunch motion on Thursday, October 1.
The court was not inclined to hear it urgently and directed that it be listed in the regular course.
The petitioner, Vadla Srikanth of Tarnaka, wants the court to initiate contempt proceedings against Karnan and impose costs of Rs 50,000 on him.
Srikanth’s complaint centres on the closure order issued ahead of Friday, October 2. In a press release on Wednesday, September 30, GHMC announced that sheep, goat and cattle slaughterhouses, along with retail meat and beef shops, would remain shut across its limits on Gandhi Jayanti. The civic body said the decision was taken under Section 533(b) of the GHMC Act, 1955, following a resolution of its Standing Committee. Karnan also asked the Hyderabad Police Commissioner to help enforce the closure.
Hyderabad meat shops closure infringement of rights
Srikanth says the order breaks a direction the High Court gave on February 23, 2026. That order disposed of an earlier writ petition filed by him, which challenged a GHMC letter dated August 4, 2025 imposing a ban on cattle slaughterhouses and retail beef shops. The court had directed authorities to strictly follow the provisions of the GHMC Act while issuing such orders.
His counsel, Vijay Gopal, told the court that GHMC went ahead regardless. The petition argues that the closure is not backed by regulations framed under the GHMC Act and that the relevant regulation was never notified in the gazette.
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