The Madras High Court Bench here on Wednesday extended by four weeks the interim stay imposed by it last month on the operation of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulations of Livestock Markets) Rules 2017 notified by the Centre on May 23 banning the sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets .
A Division Bench of Justices A. Selvam and N. Authinathan extended the interim order since a counsel representing the Centre sough time to file a counter affidavit on behalf of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. The petitioner's counsel Mohammed Arif urged the court to extend the interim stay since it had been granted only for a limited period of one month.
Last month, another Division Bench of Justices M.V. Muralidaran and C.V. Karthikeyan had granted the interim stay for four weeks on the public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the constitutional validity of the statutory rules.
S. Selvagomathy (45), an activist-cum-lawyer based in Madurai, had filed the PIL petition on 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.
Claiming that the PCA Act permits slaughter of animals as well as sale of animals for slaughter, the petitioner said the Centre had no authority to extend its rule making power, under the enactment, to the extent of banning the sale of animals in a market for the purpose of slaughter.
She contended that the new rules offend the right to freedom of religion guaranteed under Article 25 and the protection of interests of minorities under Article 29 of the Constitution. She said the slaughtering of animals for food and offering sacrifice in religious places were a part and parcel of the cultural identity of most of the communities in the country.
The petitioner stated that prohibiting the sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets amounted to interfering with the right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business as guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution. The statutory rules banning sale of cattle for slaughter amounted to excessive restriction and not reasonable restriction imposed on the right to trade.
