A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra also asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to write to all state governments about its guidelines for slaughter houses and file a compliance report within six weeks.
The bench passed the order after going through the minutes of the meeting of a committee headed by the Ministry of Environment and Forest secretary, in which it was agreed that CPCB will initiate action against all slaughter houses which are not meeting the norms and implement the abattoir rules through state pollution control boards (SPCBs).
The court was told in the meeting, it was also discussed that even SPCBs have the legal power to close abattoirs.
The court was hearing a petition, which was filed in 2003 and alleged that slaughter houses operating across the country were violating various laws relating to the environment and the cruelty against animals.
The bench, which favoured finding out "modern method" for slaughtering animals, asked the state governments to form within a month a committee under the chairmanship of the secretary of their Urban Development Department and comprising representatives from various departments like health, animal husbandry, labour, food safety, state pollution control, animal welfare board, police, Panchayati Raj and local self-government.