Supreme Court stays Madras HC’s cow slaughter ban order in win for Vijay’s Tamil Nadu government

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Madras High Court order that imposed a state-wide ban on the slaughter of cows and calves in Tamil Nadu after chief minister Vijay’s TVK government approached the top court.

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.

The bench said the final paragraph of the high court’s order, which directed the state-wide ban, appeared to require “correction”, as per a report by LiveLaw.

The state government argued that while the high court had correctly stated that animal slaughter could take place only at designated slaughterhouses, it had also directed that no cow or calf should be slaughtered on Bakrid or any other day. The state said these directions were contradictory.

The high court based its order on a 1976 ruling, which prohibited the slaughter of cows to protect milk production and support the rural economy.

However, the Tamil Nadu government argued in its plea before the apex court that the high court’s order was contrary to the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Animal Preservation Act, 1958. Notably, cows above the age of 10 years that are no longer fit for work or breeding can be slaughtered after obtaining a certificate from the competent authority, as per the Act.

The petition sought directions to ensure that animal slaughter took place only at designated slaughterhouses. However, the high court went on to impose a state-wide ban on the slaughter of cows and calves on any day in Tamil Nadu.

With inputs from agencies