New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea seeking either a total ban on slaughter of cattle or the framing of a uniform policy to protect and preserve them from slaughtering and smuggling.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and Justice N.V. Ramana said it cannot direct States to frame law banning slaughter of cattle.
Various orders have been passed by the apex court in the past on measures to be adopted to prevent illegal inter-State transportation of cattle, the bench said, while refusing to entertain the PIL petition filed by Delhi resident Vineet Sahai. During the brief hearing, counsel for Sahai referred to inconsistencies in various State laws on slaughter and transportation of cattle.
Mr. Sahai said that in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the statutes were stringent while in the neighbouring Kerala, slaughter was allowed, which led to illegal inter-State smuggling of cattle.
The plea, filed through lawyers S. Usha Reddy and Sarvesh Bisaria, sought a direction to the Centre to frame “a uniform policy throughout India for protection of cattle and to preserve them for all purpose instead of slaughtering them and exporting the said cattle in market, despite the fact that we have the provisions under the Constitution …to protect and increase our cattle”.