New rules don't ban cattle slaughter, surprised at Madras HC order: Kerala HC

The PIL filed by a Youth Congress secretary TS Saji was subsequently withdrawn.

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Hearing the first set of Public Interest Litigations (PIL) challenging the Centre's recent regulation banning sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets across the country, the Kerala High Court observed on Wednesday that there was no ban on cattle slaughter.

A division bench of the HC remarked that the Centre's rule only prohibits sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets and said that the act could be done anywhere else.

"The PIL does not stand, since the Centre's regulation only bans sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets. It has not banned cattle slaughter at all. Can't the sale and slaughtering be done at home or other places? There is no breach of citizens' rights here. Seems like people are raising objections without even reading the regulation," the court has reportedly remarked.

Subsequently, the PIL filed by a Youth Congress secretary TS Saji was withdrawn. The High Court will also consider a number of writ petitions challenging the Centre's regulation in the later part of the day.

Several people, including Congress MLA Hibi Eden, had moved the HC challenging the Centre's rule. The petition had said that the new rules would drastically affect the traders. Hibi Eden had jointly filed the writ petition along with a Kochi-based meat trader, who argued that his business was hit after the Centre's rule came into effect.

Kerala HC said it was surprised how the Madurai bench stayed the centre's notification. "If people had read the notification properly, there would not have been protests", the court reportedly said.