The Tamil Nadu Government has moved the Supreme Court against Madras High Court order imposing a blanket ban on cow slaughter in the state on the basis of an August 1976 government order.
The Tamil Nadu Government has challenged the May 27 order of the Madras High Court, which directed the state Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police to ensure that no cow or calf was slaughtered in the state either on the eve of Bakrid on May 28, or on any other day.
The high court order – which came on a PIL filed by Indu Makkal Katchi youth wing secretary K Surya alias K Surya Prasanth — was based on a 1976 order that prohibited cow slaughter in the interest of milk production and improvement of rural economy.
The high court cited Article 48 of the Constitution which required the State to take steps for prohibiting the slaughter of cows, calves and other milch and draught cattle.
However, the Tamil Nadu Government contended that the high court’s order was contrary to the Tamil Nadu Animal Preservation Act, 1958 which permitted slaughter of cows aged over 10 years unfit for work and breeding on the basis of a certificate issued by a competent authority.
Contrary to the blanket ban on the slaughter of cows and calves anywhere on any day in Tamil Nadu, the state government wanted cow slaughter to be allowed at designated places only.
