BENGALURU: Modifying the interim order passed in January 2021, the Karnataka High Court on Monday permitted the state government to implement the provisions of Section 5 of the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020 and the Rules framed thereunder with regard to transportation of cattle. The court passed the order permitting the state government to take action for breach of Section 5 and Rules thereunder. However, the court said that it is subject to final decision of the court on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the Act.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice SR Krishna Kumar modified the order after hearing the Advocate General (AG) Prabhuling K Navadagi and a counsel of the petitioners, with regard to a batch of petitions against the Act. On January 20, 2021, the court had passed the interim order clarifying that no coercive action should be initiated by the state government for the breach or violation of Section 5 of the Ordinance, till the Rules being framed as contemplated by the proviso to Section 5 of the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Ordinance, 2020 and are brought into force.
According to Section 5, before the Rules were framed, a farmer who takes his cattle from one village to another village for his own work can be prosecuted and arrested, the petitioners pointed out. Now, state has come out with ways to deal with offences under the Section 5.