KOHIMA, Nov 28: The Kohima bench of the Gauhati High Court has granted an interim stay to the Nagaland government's July 2 decision to ban commercial import, trade and sale of dogs and dog meat in the markets of the State, officials said on Friday.
An official of the high court bench said that Justice S Hukato Swu passed the interim stay on Thursday following a writ petition filed by Neizevolie Kuotsu and two others, pending the disposal of the plea.
The court had on September 14 given opportunity to the state government to file an affidavit in opposition with the direction; the government advocate told the HC that there was no reply from the state respondents.
The court asked the state respondents (government) to make all efforts to file their affidavit-in-reply and further listed the case after the winter vacation of the court.
The lawyers for the petitioners argued that if an executive exercise was made violating the basic rights of the citizens, the executive court orders could not stand the test of law.
The petitioners' lawyers pointed out that orders to be implemented must have statutory backing.
The counsel further pleaded that the impugned order by the state government in July had been passed in the garb of Cabinet decision, being basically an executive order and devoid of legislative sanction and approval and that it was illegal, a lawyer for the petitioner said.
The petitioners are traders dealing in import, trade and sale of dog meat within the jurisdiction of the Kohima municipality and have licences issued by the Kohima Municipal Council.
With the issuance of the impugned order, their business and livelihood have been adversely affected, with the pandemic situation prevailing in Nagaland only adding to their woes, the lawyers told the court.
Nagaland Chief Secretary Temjen Toy had tweeted on July: "The State Government has decided to ban commercial import and trading of dogs and dog markets and also the sale of dog meat, both cooked and uncooked. Appreciate the wise decision taken by the State's Cabinet (on July 2)."
In the tweet, the Chief Secretary tagged BJP MP and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi.
The Nagaland government's ban came into effect from July 4, four months after neighbouring Mizoram took a similar decision.
Dog meat is a delicacy among certain communities in the two northeastern states bordering Myanmar. - IANS
