The Centre on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that it will move an application withdrawing the January 7, 2016 central notification allowing jallikattu in the wake of the Bill passed unanimously by the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s statement for the Centre was spurred by a mentioning made by a lawyer as soon as a three-judge Special Bench sat for a scheduled hearing in the BCCI-Lodha Committee spat case. Justice Dipak Misra, who heads both the Jallikattu Bench and the Special Bench in the BCCI case, told Mr. Rohatgi that such an application of the government, if filed, would be considered by the Jallikattu Bench in due course.
On the Jallikattu Bench, Justice Rohinton Nariman accompanies Justice Misra.
“We [Justice Misra and Justice Nariman] will sit in combination and decide what to do,” Justice Misra, flanked by Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud for the BCCI hearing, told Mr. Rohatgi.
The submission came a day after the Assembly passed the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment), Bill, 2017, which is now before the President to see if there is any repugnancy with the Central Act.
The passing of the Bill and the Centre’s move seeking withdrawal of the January 7 notification would end up rendering a judgment on the constitutionality of the notification infructuous. The Supreme Court had reserved a batch of petitions filed by animal lovers and organisations, challenging the notification after prolonged hearings on its legal validity.
It was only last week, on January 20, that the Centre had approached the Supreme Court to delay the pronouncement of its judgment on the notification by a week. Mr. Rohatgi had then submitted that passions were running high in Tamil Nadu, and some leeway should be given by the court so that the Centre and the State government could engage in talks to end massive protests.
The court had acquiesced. Since the passing of the Amendment Bill, nearly 70 caveats, including that of the Tamil Nadu government, have been filed to prevent the apex court from passing any orders against the new State legislation without hearing them first.
The January 7 notification was issued by the Centre to circumvent a 2014 Supreme Court ban, which termed the event conducted during the Pongal festival as an ‘inherent act of cruelty’ against bulls.
