Madras High Court stays Centre’s notification on cattle slaughter:
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on 30th May 2017 stayed the Centre’s recently issued notification on Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 which aims to prohibit the sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets.
The Bench comprising of Justice MV Muralidaran and Justice CV Karthikeyan issued this notice to the centre and the state governments in a petition filed by social activist and lawyer S Selvagomathy.
Further, the Bench has directed the central government to file counter in four weeks and in the meantime, an interim stay on the Rules case is made out.
The petitioner challenged:
- The Centre’s competence to frame Rules which go beyond the scope of the Act.
- Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, which states an exhaustive list of acts that are deemed to cruelty towards animals, and that slaughter is not one of them.
- Articles 14, 19, 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution of India, 1950.
- Rules 22(b)(iii) and 22(e) as being ultravires the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 which provides that no person shall bring cattle to an animal market without furnishing a written declaration that the cattle is not meant to be sold for slaughter and prohibits the purchaser of cattle to sell it for slaughter respectively.
Further, Petitioner also stated that the Rules would adversely affect the farmers’ right to life under Article 21.
On the aforementioned grounds, the petitioner had prayed for an interim stay on the Rules 22(b)(iii) and 22(e), and asked the Court to pass a direction declaring the Rules as unconstitutional.