Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
A Nagaland government decision banning the sale and consumption of dog meat in the state that had been in effect since 2020 was overturned on Wednesday by the Kohima Bench of the Gauhati High Court. The commercial import, trading, and selling of dogs for commercial purposes, as well as the sale of dog meat in marketplaces and sit-down restaurants, were all outlawed by the Nagaland government order in the said order.
Here the petitioners had the permit to import and export dogs to Kohima for their business by selling dog meat. But the Chief Secretary ordered to ban any commercial import, trading of dogs and sale of dog meat in markets and dine-in restaurants. The petitioners filed a writ petition against this order under Article 226 of the Constitution on the grounds that the order is violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 and the principles of natural justice. They have argued that the Regulation 2.5 of the Food Safety and Standards and Food Additives Regulation 2011 of the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India, has defined animals, carcasses and meat and it does not include dogs or canines.
The Court held that the state could not have outlawed dog meat if there was no valid legal basis for doing so. It was stated that “The prohibition of the sale and consumption of dog meat by the Executive branch of the Government, without there being any law passed by the legislation in relation to trade and consumption of dog meat is liable thus to be set aside even though the impugned notification dated 04.07.2020 is said to have been passed in accordance with a Cabinet decision.”
Justice Marli Vankung reasoned that there is no mention of any authority to issue ban orders in the Food Safety and Standards Act, which is the legal foundation for which the government issued the order. The Court added that only a small portion of the Northeastern states consume dog meat, and the notion of eating dog meat is foreign to most people.
Name of the case: Neizevolie Kuotsu alias Toni Kuotsu and 2 Ors. v. The State of Nagaland & 6 Ors. WP(C)/128/2020
Bench: Justice Marli Vankung.