Chennai: Buckling under tremendous pressure, the Tamil Nadu Government on Friday got the Union Government’s approval to bring a state-specific amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act that seeks to remove the bull from the list of performing animals through an ordinance. The ordinance, once promulgated, will pave the way for conduct of jallikattu in the state.
Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who was at the forefront of the efforts to bring an ordinance, declared on his arrival here from New Delhi on Friday afternoon that bulls would come out roaring from the ‘vaadi vaasal’ (the gateway through which the bulls enter the jallikattu track) “very soon”.
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The ordinance, approved by the Home Ministry late on Friday night, will be placed before the Tamil Nadu Cabinet for its approval on Saturday morning after which it will be sent to Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao for promulgation. Mr Rao, who is in Maharashtra, will be in the city on Saturday morning.
Once the Governor promulgates the ordinance, jallikattu can be conducted anytime. The approval from the Home Minister, who signed the ordinance as powers to sign on behalf of the President are vested with him, came on a day of fast-paced developments with approvals from different ministries – Environment, Law and Home – coming in a span of record 13 hours.
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Working at a feverish pitch, the Tamil Nadu and Union Governments moved swiftly from Friday morning at around 8 am to bring a state-specific amendment to the PCA.
It first went to the Home Ministry, which forwarded it to Environment and Law Ministries for their comments. As expected, both the ministries went through the ordinance, vetted and approved it in matter of few hours without any major changes. After it came back to the Home Ministry at around 7.30 pm, Home Minister Rajnath Singh gave his approval a little after 9.30 pm.
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“Since the Ordinance is issued by the state, it has to be finally promulgated by the Governor. And because the ordinance makes a state-specific amendment to a Central act, it needs the assent of the President or the Union Government,” a senior government official said.
