A bench, comprising justices Dipak Misra and N V Ramana, of the apex court issued a stay while hearing a bunch of petitions filed by animal welfare groups and individuals challenging the Centre’s notification. “As an interim measure, we direct that there shall be stay of notification dated January 7, 2016, issued by Ministry of Environment and Forest,” the bench said and issued notices to the MoEF and TN and returnable by four weeks.