In a big move, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Maharashtra government to conduct bullock cart races in the state. The order was passed by the apex court bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilar and CT Ravikumar. The judgment comes amid amendments made by it to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the 2017 Rules.
The hearing on the interim application in Maharashtra's special leave petition was filed in 2018. It challenged the stay order passed by the Bombay High Court against the conduct of bullock cart races in the state. The Supreme Court order has permitted the resumption of the bull cart race in Maharashtra after four years.
The permission has been granted on the same conditions and regulations as mentioned in the state amendments to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Maharashtra government had on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the ban on bullock-cart race in the state should be lifted as the same is going on in states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
In 2014, the Supreme Court had banned Jallikattu, bull-race and bullock-cart races across the country accepting that these violated provisions of the PCA Act. However, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had amended PCA Act to allow regulated bull races, which is also under challenge now and pending in Supreme Court for over three years.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, is to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals and to amend the laws relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals. Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil and Minister of Sports and Animal Husbandry Sunil Kedar have welcomed the Supreme Court's decision.
