The Kerala High Court on Wednesday declined to stay the May 23 Central notification banning sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter at the livestock markets in the country. A single-judge Bench of the court also refused to pass an interim order on a batch of petitions that questioned the authority of the Centre to issue such a notification.
Observing that the issue was a serious one and that arguments had to be heard in detail, the court listed them for expeditious disposal on a later date. A division Bench of the High Court had on May 31 effectively backed the notification — Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 (Rules) — saying that there was no Constitutional violation in it.
The single-judge Bench said on Wednesday that there were Constitutional hurdles in staying the rules and that there was no situation that warranted passage of an interim order. It directed the Centre, which argued that the notification had not banned cattle slaughter but had only imposed controls on cattle trade at animal markets, to submit a detailed affidavit.
The petitions challenging the notification, submitted by Congress legislator Hybi Eden, some beef traders from Kozhikode and workers in the beef sector, had argued that the new rules concerning cattle trade were against the spirit
of the federal system of the country.
The court posted the petitions to a later date by stating that it was taking the petitioners’ arguments at face value. The Kerala Government had supported the petitions by saying that the Centre had issued the notification in a subject that came under the State’s purview. The Government had earlier written to the Centre requesting withdrawal of the notification.
The petitioners argued that the Central notification had directly encroached on the legislative power of the State legislatures. The beef traders submitted that their business had already been affected to a large extent because the supply of buffalos for the purpose of slaughter had been prohibited under the new rules.
The Centre had explained in the High Court that the notification issued on May 23 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had not banned slaughter of animals and that the newly proposed rules were part of the steps aimed at preventing cruelty to animals and that there was nothing in it that would affect freedom relating to food.
A division bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Navniti Prasad Singh had on May 31, a day after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court stayed the notification for four weeks, observed that it could not see any ban on slaughter or sale and consumption of beef and that the protestors might have misread the new rules.
The Kerala Assembly is holding a special one-day session on Thursday to discuss the Central notification and to adopt a resolution registering the State’s protest against it. Though the Congress-led UDF Opposition is supporting the Government on the issue, the House will not be able to pass the resolution unanimously as lone BJP MlA O Rajagopal is sure to oppose it.