Putting an end to the century-old practice of not serving non-vegetarian food in canteens in the High Court campus, a group of lawyers today served meat items to the litigants and public.

Till date the three canteens in the campus were serving only vegetarian food though there was no specific restriction on serving non-vegetarian food.

Advocate P Rathinam, who had staged a protest at Madurai bench of the High Court last month over the issue, said each non-veg packet would be sold at a subsidised rate of Rs 70 to popularise the protest.

Citing the recent observation of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul that more than 85% of people in the country are non-vegetarians and that food choice cannot be curtailed, he said people in High Court could not be denied their right to choose food.

In April, another group of advocates had staged a 'beef biriyani' protest on the Madras High Court campus protesting against the ban on cow slaughter in Maharashtra.