The Gujarat High Court initially lifted the ban on the sale of meat near the Somnath temple, but within four hours, it reversed its decision following an appeal by the state government.
On Friday, a single-judge bench of the Gujarat High Court overturned a ban on the sale of meat imposed by the state government near the Somnath temple. The court's ruling came in response to a petition filed by six restaurants challenging the administration’s August 10 notification banning the sale, storage, distribution and cooking of non-vegetarian food along roads leading to and within half a km of the temple in Veraval (The Indian Express). At 3 pm, the single-judge bench allowed the plea and lifted the ban. However, immediately after the ruling, the state government sought time to challenge it before a division bench, citing that the position on the ground had not changed since August 10 (The Indian Express). The government pleader requested the operation of the single-judge bench’s order be kept in abeyance for five working days. However, the judge declined to keep the order in abeyance. Consequently, the state government filed an urgent appeal before the division bench, before the single-judge bench’s order had been published (The Indian Express). Before 7 pm, the division bench had stayed the operation of the single-judge bench’s order and kept the meat ban in force. The division bench will hear the matter again on December 26.
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