The Madras High Court today set up a committee to regulate camel slaughtering and directed that the committee should hold its first meeting within a week and place preliminary recommendations before the court a day before the next date of hearing.
A PIL has been filed by one E. Seshan and the Peoples for Cattle in India seeking a direction to prevent transport of camels into the state and their killing for religious purpose in violation of rules for slaughter of animals in places other than lawful slaughter houses.
The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, posted the PIL for further hearing to September 14.
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When the matter came up, the court criticized government pleader S T S Murthy for non-submission of the state government's stand on slaughtering of camels in public places.
The CJ orally observed "I must express dissatisfaction and I am fed up. No proper representation is made to the court."
The bench, which went through photos submitted by the petitioner showing slaughter of camels in public places, said "these photographs show slaughtering of camels in public places and yet the Corporation of Chennai has the temerity to say that no slaughter of camels is taking place as no permission was granted."
"The gruesome photographs filed with the writ petition also do not seem to trouble the respondent authorities."
The bench, after going through the various affidavits filed by different departments, said these seem to suggest that the government departments are incapable of coordination.
"This seems to suggest as if different departments of government are incapable of co-ordination between themselves unless directions are issued by this court," the bench said.
Expressing surprise over the government's stand that camels are slaughtered for religious purposes and therefore any action has to be taken cautiously, it said "we fail to understand how slaughtering can take place in an unregulated manner all over the city, that too in public places."
"The slaughtering can only take place in the slaughtering houses at a designated place and thus different authorities are passing on the burden to the other, giving no solution to the problem," the bench said.
Noting lack of coordination between departments, it formed a committee, comprising officials of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Department, Road Transport, Chennai Corporation, TNPCB , AWBI, Food Safety and Standard authority of India, and also R. Srinivas, counsel for the petitioner, to regulate camel slaughtering as per norms.
