Supreme Court stays Madras HC’s blanket ban on cow, calf slaughter in Tamil Nadu

THe sublime margaret court on mon stayed the performance of a Madras heights Court order that directed the Tamil Nadu government to ensure that no cow or calf is slaughtered anywhere in the state either on Bakrid or on any other day, observing that the operative portion of the high court’s judgment prima facie required “correction”.A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the interim order while issuing notice on a special leave petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government challenging the May 27 judgment of the Madras High Court. “The last paragraph of the high court’s order, prima facie, requires correction,” observed the bench while staying the blanket prohibition.Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the state, argued that the high court’s direction effectively amounted to judicial legislation by imposing a prohibition that finds no place in the statutory framework governing animal slaughter in Tamil Nadu.The state’s petition, filed through the state’s standing counsel, Jayashree Narasimhan, contended that the high court’s order runs contrary to the Tamil Nadu Animal Preservation Act, 1958, which expressly permits the slaughter of cows above 10 years of age if they are certified by the competent authority as permanently unfit for work or breeding.It submitted that the Animal Preservation Act, read together with the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001, the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998 and the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Rules, 2023, regulates the conditions under which animals may be slaughtered but does not impose a total prohibition.According to the state, by directing a complete ban, the high court substituted the legislative scheme with a judicial mandate.The impugned order was passed on May 27 by a bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan on the eve of Bakrid while deciding a public interest litigation filed by K Surya Prasanth, general secretary of Hindu Makkal Katchi.The original petition had sought directions to ensure that cows were not slaughtered in temporary or undesignated places in Coimbatore during Bakrid. However, the high court went beyond the relief sought and directed the chief secretary and director general of Police to ensure that no cow or calf is slaughtered anywhere in Tamil Nadu either on Bakrid or on any other day.The high court relied on a 1976 government order, which stated that a ban on cow slaughter would improve milk production and strengthen the rural economy. It also referred to Supreme Court decisions holding that cow slaughter is not an essential religious practice associated with Bakrid.Challenging the judgment, the Tamil Nadu government argued that the high court granted a relief that had neither been pleaded nor prayed for in the writ petition. The state also objected to the high court’s reliance on the 1976 government order, contending that neither its validity nor its applicability was under challenge in the proceedings and that an executive instruction could not override statutory provisions enacted by the legislature.The petition contended that the high court’s judgment is internally contradictory. While one part of the judgment recognised that animal slaughter could take place only in designated slaughterhouses under the existing legal framework, the operative directions simultaneously imposed a complete ban on the slaughter of cows and calves throughout the state.The state also disputed the high court’s observation that authorities had effectively conceded that cows were being or would be slaughtered in public places. According to the petition, the police had consistently maintained in their counter affidavit that preventive measures had been taken to ensure that no slaughter would take place in public places and that any ritual sacrifice would be confined to enclosed, non-public locations.