Stay on cattle sale order extended

Lawyer Selva Gomathy of Madurai, in her petition, had stated that recently the central government had introduced a new regulation in the sale of cattle and the new regulation is against the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960. Under Section 28 of the Act there is freedom for killing animals for religious practices and there is also Religious Freedom guaranteed under Article 25 of Indian Constitution. 

Majority of the communities consume meat and any order which bans sale of cattle for meat stands in direct violation of the Constitution. Eating meat is a fundamental right of a citizen and even large number of traders are involved in cattle trade. The new regulations would affect their businesses too and hence prayed the court to stay the order of the central government. 

Similarly, another petition filed by Asik Ilaki Bava with the same prayer was also heard along with the petition of Selva Gomathy, on Wednesday. As on May 30, the Court had issued interim stay for one month for the implementation of the order and on Wednesday during the hearing the special pleader appearing for Central government had requested time for the reply. Hence Judges A.Selvam and N.Authinathan extended the interim stay for another one month and adjourned the case on July 7.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, on Wednesday directed the state government to pay the pending fees to former Additional Advocate General (AAG)  Chellapandian.

Chellapandian, a senior lawyer at Madurai Bench and a relative of former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, in his petition before the court, had stated that from 2011 to 2016 he had worked as AAG at the Madurai Bench of the High Court. During his tenure he had appeared for 156 government officials and a total fees of Rs.50 lakh is pending in this regard. Though he had sent the bills of his fee to all the concerned government departments there was either no reply or payment made towards him, his plea stated. Chellapandian had appealed to the court to issue direction to the state government to settle his pending fees. When the petition was heard, on Wednesday, PP had argued that government is taking all steps to settle the pending fees for Chellapandian as early as possible. Following that Judge Kalyanasundaram  directed the state government to settle the pending fees completely and adjourned the case to July 14.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, on Wednesday, issued an interim stay on the appointment of Public Prosecutors (PPs) in the three districts of Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari and Pudukottai.

The order comes on a petition filed by Nataraja Shankar of Palayamkottai in Tirunelveli.  In his petition, he had stated that 24 PPs were appointed for the District Court and other courts in Tirunelveli district on June 9. Additional Chief Secretary of the state had issued a government order in this regard. The petition stated that rules were not followed in the appointment of PPs and many unqualified persons were appointed based on recommendations from local politicians. Hence, the appointment of PPs should be declared null and void, prayed the petitioner to the court. Similarly, two more lawyers, Joseph of Pudukottai and Lavelin of Nagercoil, had also stated that rules were not followed in the appointment of PPs in their districts and prayed the court to stay their appointments. Judges A.Selvam and N.Authinathan, who issued the interim stay, also sent notice to Secretary of Law Department seeking his reply on the matter raised by the petitioner.  The case was then adjourned by the judges to July 5.