The Madras High Court has stayed the Centre's order to ban the sale of cattle for slaughter by four-weeks today.The Madurai bench of the high court sought responses from the state government and Government of India on the issue.
The government has banned the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter.
Several places in Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been witnessing demonstrations during the past few days against the ban on sale of cattle for slaughter, with the protesters saying it infringed upon the food habits of sections of people.
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The environment ministry had earlier notified the stringent 'Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017' under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
According to the notification, the member secretary of an animal market committee will have to ensure that no person brings a young animal to the animal market.
According to a newspaper report the court today passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition that challenged the constitutional validity of Rules 22(b)(iii) and 22(e) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulations of Livestock Markets) Rules 2017 notified by the Centre.
S. Selvagomathy (45), an activist-cum-lawyer based in Madurai, had filed the PIL petition on the grounds that the statutory rules were repugnant to the parent Act itself since Section 28 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act of 1960 specifically states that it shall not be an offence to kill any animal in a manner required by the religion of any community, details The Hindu report.
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With agency input
