Govt reply sought on plea to rein in slaughterhouses

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy added the Union government as a respondent in the case and directed forwarding the petition to the Additional Solicitor-General. “The matter is of some importance since the petitioner says that there are no laws, whether of the State or the Union, to deal with the extent of pain to be inflicted on animals at slaughterhouses and even with how to deal with the animals after they are killed and how also to deal with the waste produced at the slaughterhouses,” the bench said listing the PIL for hearing to July 27.

The PIL moved by activist Gouhar Azeez and Maharashtra-based Akhil Bharat Krishi Goseva Sangh (ABKGS) had sought ban on slaughtering cows, calves, milch and draught cattle. Though the TN Animal Preservation Act provided for preservation of bulls, bullocks, cow and calves and allows slaughter only after a certificate is issued by a competent authority stating that the animal was fit for slaughter, the officials failed to impose it, the petitioners said.