Maharashtra sets up commission to implement beef ban law

Eight years after the Bombay High Court put a ban on the slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks in Maharashtra, the State Government approved a proposal to set up a cow service commission to implement the law. The Eknath Shinde Government estimates that the cow population will increase due to the beef ban in Maharashtra and has allotted ₹10 crore for it.

Eight years after the Bombay High Court upheld the law banning the slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks in Maharashtra, the State government approved a proposal to set up a commission to actually implement the law.

The Maharashtra Gau Seva Aayog (Commission for Cow Service) will supervise the rearing of livestock and assess which of them are unproductive and rendered unfit for milking, breeding, or agricultural work. It will coordinate with various government agencies to stop such non-productive cattle from going to slaughterhouses, which is now illegal under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Animal Act.

The Eknath Shinde government estimates that the State’s cow population will increase due to the beef ban and has allotted ₹10 crore for the commission. Maharashtra will become the third State after Haryana and Goa to set up such a commission.

The 24-member body’s chairman will be nominated by the State government. Its members will include 14 senior officers, including commissioners from the animal husbandry, agriculture, transport, and dairy development departments, a deputy inspector general of police, and nine nominated members who are associated with either cow protection organisations or non-governmental organisations involved in running gaushalas (cow shelters).

The commission will look into the cultivation of improved breeds of cattle with the help of gaushalas and will engage in research to increase local varieties. It will also take up biogas schemes to generate power from cow dung and urine, and coordinate with universities and research institutes that are working in the field of cattle and cattle development.

On May 6, 2016, the High Court upheld the validity of the Act banning cattle slaughter, and said that a competent authority could enter, stop, and search any vehicle used for the export of a cow, bull or bullock and seize it. The court also upheld the prohibition on transporting flesh with the purpose of slaughter or with the knowledge or likelihood of it being slaughtered.