Mumbai (The Hindu): The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government to come up with a mechanism to fix dates on which there would be no sale of meat in the city owing to the religious festivals.

A division bench of Justice Anoop Mohta asked the government to device the mechanism while hearing a petition of Bombay Mutton Dealers Association.

The petition had challenged a ban imposed by the Municipal Corporation and the state government on slaughter of animals and sale of mutton and chicken for four days in September 2015 during the `Paryushan’ period of the Jains.

The court had then stayed the ban on sale of meat, but hadn’t interfered with that on slaughter.

It had asked the government to come up with the guidelines and a list of days when the ban could be imposed.

However, when the matter came up on Wednesday, the government lawyer Hiten Venegaonkar said he needed time to file an affidavit in response to the court’s directions.

“We will have to monitor the issue every year. The government will have to fix dates after discussing (the issue) with all the parties.... It is a matter that has to be handled in a mature manner. There has to be an arrangement in the society. The government will have to come up with a solution,” Justice Mohta said, adjourning the hearing till on Thursday.

While staying the ban on sale of meat last year, the court had slammed the government and the civic body for their “regressive” approach, and had said such a ban was no solution in a metropolitan city like Mumbai.