CHENNAI: A PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court to declare the entire notification of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 dated May 23 last as illegal, unconstitutional, and ultra vires to the provisions of the Constitution.
In his PIL, the advocate and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi activist D Parvendhan of Teynampet submitted that the regulation of market committees, including market committees for cattle, is a State subject. So the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest had no power to legislate on the subject, much less through the parent Act, i.e., the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
Laws on cattle slaughter were outside the legislative competence of Parliament as these were covered under Entry 15 of List II (preservation, protection and improvement of stock and prevention of animal diseases, veterinary training and practice). Hence the present rules were ultra vires to the powers of the Union Ministry, the petitioner contended.