Through the notification number 396, called Regulation on Livestock Rules 2017, imposes a ban on sale of cattle for slaughter all across India. Cattle in this notification are defined as bulls, cows, bullocks, buffaloes, steers, heifers, calves and camels. In January this year, a bench headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had stayed the order of the Himachal Pradesh High Court which, through a judgement in 2016, had directed the central government to enact a national law against cow slaughter.The Supreme Court did not accept that the central government has the jurisdiction to do so. The case is still before the top court. Thus, the present notification by the central government circumvents the Supreme Court stay order. Instead of a national ban on cow slaughter, it imposes a national ban on the sale of all cattle for slaughter. This includes the six states where there is no law at present against cow slaughter. Thus, the notification is a direct encroachment on the rights of the States and on the federal structure of the constitution. Further, it will give unlimited powers to the ‘Gau Rakshaks’, who are involving in ‘man slaughter’, in the name of stopping ‘cow slaughter’, creating communal tensions. Hence, the government should withdraw this notification

(SOURCE: BSNLEU WEBSITE)