HC seeks CMC steps to check illegal cow slaughter

Cuttack: The Orissa high court has directed the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) to file an affidavit by June 27 giving details of the steps being taken to prohibit and prevent illegal cow slaughter in the city.
The order was issued on Thursday while hearing a petition filed by an NGO, Gau Gyan Foundation, in 2018.
The two-judge bench of Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Justice Savitri Ratho said, “The commissioner of CMC shall be obliged to file an affidavit stating as to how many certificates have so far been issued in accordance with Section 3 of the Odisha Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960 and Rule 3 of the Odisha Prevention of Cow Slaughter Rules, 1966.”
The bench listed the matter to be heard among the first five cases on June 27.
The Odisha Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960 was brought in to prohibit and prevent the slaughter of cow and its progeny. Accordingly, the bench expected the affidavit to give records indicating the details of cases in which the competent authority of CMC had certified cows or bulls for slaughter.
Section 3 of the Act prescribes the competent authority to issue certificates for slaughter only in cases of cows or bulls that are over 14 years of age or permanently unfit and unserviceable for the purpose of breeding and any kind of agricultural operation.
As per the rules, the competent authority is also expected to ensure the permanent unfitness or unserviceability has not been caused deliberately.
The PIL sought removal of unauthorised and illegal slaughterhouses and for regulation of cow slaughter in accordance with the restrictions stipulated in the 1960 Act. The petition also sought the court’s intervention to regulate transportation of cattle in different areas under the CMC.
Till less than a decade ago, there was an age-old and lone cow slaughter house-cum-sale centre, better known as kilkhana, behind the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. The CMC banned the slaughter of big animals at the kilkhana in 2015. After that big animals were slaughtered at different places like Odia Bazar, Baunsagali, Diwan Bazar and Mahamadia Bazar. However, beef was being transported using trolley rickshaws to the kilkhana for sale. The sale was stopped over a year ago.