The Supreme Court today stayed the Centre's notification lifting ban on controversial bull taming sport Jallikattu during the festival of Pongal in Tamil Nadu. A bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and N V Ramana said as an interim measure, there shall be stay of notification dated January 7, 2016 issued by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, MoEF.<br/><br/>The bench also issued notice to the MoEF and Tamil Nadu on petitions filed by various bodies including Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) seeking striking down of the Centre's notification and sought their replies within four weeks.<br/><br/>Earlier during the day, a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur referred the petitions to the present bench as one of the judges Justice Banumathi, who hails from Tamil Nadu, recused from hearing the batch of petitions.<br/><br/>The Centre's notification lifting ban on Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu was challenged in the Supreme Court yesterday by AWBI, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and a Bangalore-based NGO.<br/><br/>The four-year-old ban on holding of Jallikattu was lifted on January 8 by the Centre with certain restrictions. Jallikattu was banned by the UPA government in 2011 on the ground that the sport ended in cruelty to the animals.<br/><br/>

The Supreme Court today stayed the Centre's notification lifting ban on controversial bull taming sport Jallikattu during the festival of Pongal in Tamil Nadu. A bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and N V Ramana said as an interim measure, there shall be stay of notification dated January 7, 2016 issued by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, MoEF.<br/><br/>The bench also issued notice to the MoEF and Tamil Nadu on petitions filed by various bodies including Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) seeking striking down of the Centre's notification and sought their replies within four weeks.<br/><br/>Earlier during the day, a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur referred the petitions to the present bench as one of the judges Justice Banumathi, who hails from Tamil Nadu, recused from hearing the batch of petitions.<br/><br/>The Centre's notification lifting ban on Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu was challenged in the Supreme Court yesterday by AWBI, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and a Bangalore-based NGO.<br/><br/>The four-year-old ban on holding of Jallikattu was lifted on January 8 by the Centre with certain restrictions. Jallikattu was banned by the UPA government in 2011 on the ground that the sport ended in cruelty to the animals.