The Supreme Court has refused to lift the meat ban on roads leading to and within half a kilometer of the Somnath temple in Gujarat, and has requested the Gujarat High Court to decide on the appeal expeditiously within two months.
On Friday, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with a meat ban imposed by the state government near the Somnath temple in Veraval, Gujarat. The court stated that it needed to maintain a balance and asked the Gujarat High Court to decide on the appeal promptly within a period of 2 months.
On October 31, the Gujarat High Court initially struck down the ban, only to reverse its order four hours later. Prior to this, the ban was challenged by six restaurant owners who argued that it would negatively impact their businesses, as 80% of the country's population consumes meat.
On October 31, at 3 pm, a 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. The government pleader argued that the position on the ground had not changed since August 10 and requested that 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.
Subsequently, the state government filed an urgent appeal before the division bench, before the single-judge bench’s order had been published. Before 7 pm, the division bench had stayed the operation of the single-judge bench’s order and kept the meat ban in force.
On Friday, the advocate appearing for the restaurant owners argued before the Supreme Court that dietary choices were a matter of personal freedom and that the ban was affecting their businesses.
Source:
Scroll.in
