President nod to introduction of anti-cow slaughter bill in Rajasthan Assembly

NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind has given “previous sanction” to the Ashok Gehlot government for the introduction of Rajasthan Bovine Animals (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Bill.
The Bill to amend the 1995 Act was introduced by the Vasundhra Raje government last year but after Congress came to power in Rajasthan in December 2018, the Centre was of the view that the state assembly should examine the amendments afresh, officials said.

Article 304 (B) of the Constitution empowers the states to impose reasonable restrictions on the freedom of trade and commerce with or within that state as may be necessary in the public interest. However, no such bill or amendment is to be introduced or moved in the state legislature without the previous sanction of the President. “Since this was a trade bill, instructions regarding the previous sanction of the President was conveyed to the state government last month,” a home ministry official told ET. The amendments to Rajasthan Bovine Animals (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Bill, 2018, was to exclude buffalo and its progeny from the list of bovine. The amendments empower the state to seize vehicles used in illegal transportation of cows and arrest the offenders.

The suggestion to exclude buffaloes and its progeny from the list of bovine was made after legal opinion pointed to a central law that makes a distinction between cows and buffaloes and excludes the latter from the list of bovine.

The move to amend the 1995 Act may bring relief to meat traders in Rajasthan from cow vigilantes as the present state Act makes no distinction between cow and buffalo, said officials familiar with the development. Bills from a state government are received (under Article 200 read with Article 254(2) of the Constitution for consideration and assent of the President under Article 201.