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Nod to Gujarat ban on bull, bullock slaughter

The Gujarat Government after succeeding in getting favourable verdict from the Supreme Court on the ban of cow slaughter in the state earlier has got a further boost with the apex court also upholding its notification banning slaughter of bulls and bullocks and sale of beef. A Bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam upheld the December 11, 1989 notification of the Gujarat Government banning the slaughter of bulls, bullocks and other animals and sale of their meat. As a result, the Bench dismissed an appeal of Abdulsattar Yousufbhai Qureshi and other butchers challenging the notification, issued by the state government under the Gujarat Essential Commodities and Cattle (Control) Act, 1958. The Bench passed the verdict in consonance with the apex court's 2005 verdict upholding the ban on slaughter of cows. The butchers had filed an appeal in the apex court after the Gujarat High Court had dismissed their petition on the ground that the government had imposed "reasonable restriction' for drastically reducing the slaughter of bulls and bullocks and trade of their meat. In the 2005 verdict, the apex court had said that since there was adequate availability of the cattle feed resources in the state, the question of striking down the "total ban' on the slaughter of even old cattle for scarcity of fodder would not arise and there was no reason for "disrupting' it. "Above being the position, this appeal is without merit and deserves dismissal which we direct,' the Bench in its fresh judgement said.

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