PANJIM: The Quraishi Meat Traders Association (QMTA) has welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling to stay the Centre’s notification banning the trade of cattle for slaughter.
In May this year, the Ministry of Environment and Forest had issued a notification, ‘Rules on Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Market)’ and imposed a ban on sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets and said such animals could only be used for agricultural purposes like ploughing and dairy production.
In a statement, QMTA president Manna Bepari said, “The Supreme Court of India has been pleased to suspend the Centre’s notification banning purchase of cattle for slaughter across the country. This news brings a sigh of relief to the meat traders as well as the meat consuming community in Goa as well as in other parts of India.”
QMTA has filed a writ petition in the High Court of Bombay at Goa stating that the notification states that cattle should not be sold for slaughter, which means the trade will shut down. Secondly, if inter-state trade of cattle is banned, Goa will not have any cattle in the State as they have been importing cattle from neighbouring states.
