New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on January 30 a batch of petitions filed by the Animal Welfare Board (AWB) 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 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, and Anand Grover and Abhishek Singhvi for other activists for urgent hearing.
They also opposed the Centre’s application seeking to withdraw the January 7 notification allowing Jallikattu with certain conditions to avoid a possible adverse judgment, which was reserved on December 7, 2016. Besides AWB, the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations, and the Compassion Unlimited Plus Action filed the petitions.
They submitted that the amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 passed by Tamil Nadu is incompatible with the Constitution.
The Tamil Nadu amendment states that Jallikattu is vital to preservation of cultural and traditional practices. Refuting this claim, the petitioners contended that Jallikattu does not have any religious significance.
