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Pune: The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leadership hailed the Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday allowing Maharashtra to hold bullock cart races after a gap of nearly four years. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar while welcoming the apex court’s decision to lift the ban termed it as an important one for rural Maharashtra.
The Supreme Court was hearing an application filed by the Maharashtra government which sought the ban on bullock cart races in Maharashtra (ongoing since 2017) should be lifted as Jallikattu and bullock sports were currently being held in states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said, “The SC’s decision to lift ban on bullock cart races is one of great interest to farmers and livestock breeders. These farmers and bullock cart race organisers have won a victory, the road to which has been long and hard. Our government fought this battle with determination and full strength. I congratulate all leaders and activists involved.” He further added that the races, which were an integral part of Maharashtra’s traditional fabric, could now resume in the State.
He said that bullock cart owners had long considered the ban unjust especially as racecourses and horse-racing were not affected. At the same time, the Deputy Chief Minister appealed to all farmers to strictly abide by all the conditions and rules.
Welcoming the SC verdict, State Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil remarked, “this is a matter of joy for all bullock-cart race lovers. However, it is requested that all these races be conducted in strict compliance with the terms and conditions laid down by the State Government.”
During the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Maharashtra government, told the SC bench that in 2017, the State had come with amendments to the conduct of bullock cart races.
These amended rules were challenged in the Bombay High Court (in 2018) which had stayed these amendments by which the State wanted to hold bullock cart races. Mukul Rohatgi submitted that similar amendments had been carried out in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. When the matter came to the Apex court, no bar had been put on the conduct of bullock cart races in those two states and hence Maharashtra ought to be allowed to conduct bullock cart races in accordance with the 2017 rules.
The apex court in its verdict observed that validity of the amended provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the rules framed by Maharashtra, which provided for bullock cart races in the State, would operate during the pendency of the petitions as the entire matter had been referred to a constitution bench.
The three-judge bench headed by Justice A. M. Khanwilkar noted that no interim relief was granted earlier by the apex court on the petitions challenging the validity of similar State amendments in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka where such races were on.
“The same dispensation must apply to the amended provisions as applicable to the state of Maharashtra, which are similar to the amendments carried out in the other two states,” said the bench comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C.T. Ravikumar.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), too, welcomed the SC decision to permit the races, with leader of opposition and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis remarking that the races were an important traditional sport in rural Maharashtra.
The SC verdict has sparked-off a ‘credit-taking game’ between the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the BJP, with Pawar crediting the success of the government in bringing about the apex court decision while Fadnavis claimed that the SC had acted upon a submission advocating bullock cart races made by the then BJP government in the State.
“Our government had made a submission on the ‘running ability of the bull’ and the apex court has accepted it and accordingly passed this welcome decision. A number of BJP leaders had been continuously following up on this matter,” Fadnavis said.
