Supreme Court allows bullock cart racing in Maharashtra

The SC cited that these type of races are allowed in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and therefore should not be restrained here too unless a legal ban is imposed on them.

New Delhi:A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar on Thursday passed a verdict allowing bullock cart racing in Maharashtra. The court was hearing an interim application filed in 2018, challenging the verdict passed by the Bombay High Court in 2018 that banned all the sports that may potentially harm animals under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act.

The Supreme Court, during this judgement, gave the reference of the Animal Welfare Board vs Nagaraja judgement that banned the traditional sport of Jallikattu in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in 2014. However, both the states had plead for amendments in the PCA Act, post which no interim stay was passed against them. Although the matter was fully heard, the order was reserved and later transferred to the Constitution bench.

"Same dispensation must apply to the provisions of the State of Maharashtra which are similar to the amendments carried out in other states", the bench said, considering the history of the exact same case before the SC.

The court further said that the matters of all three states - including Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu - must be heard together. It thus conclusively implied that the rules should be same in all the states, and because similar kind of races are being allowed in other states, they should be allowed in Maharashtra too.

The bullock cart races will therefore be allowed in Maharashtra for as long as the matter remains pending with the Constitution Bench.