New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on January 30 a batch of petitions filed by the Animal Welfare Board and other animal rights activists challenging the Bill passed by the Tamil Nadu government on January 23, to allow Jallikattu in the state.
The Bill has been sent to the President of India for his assent to be notified as a law. A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra directed listing of all the petitions on a “mention” made by senior counsel Aryama Sundaram for the AWB, Anand Grover and Abhishek Singhvi for other activists for urgent hearing. They also opposed the Centre’s application seeking to withdraw the January 7, 2016 notification allowing Jallikattu with certain conditions to avoid a possible adverse judgement, which was reserved on December 7, 2016. Besides AWB, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) and Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) filed the present petitions.
They submitted that the amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 dated January 1, 2017 passed by Tamil Nadu is ultra vires the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act,1960 and the Constitution of India. This amendment is nothing but a surreptitious method of circumventing the law laid down by this Court, without addressing the legal basis of the 2014 judgement banning jallikattu. The amendment dated January 1, 2017 has amended various related judicial sections and conduct of Jallikattu is allowed and to be governed by the rules framed by Tamil Nadu.
