New Delhi: Government tonight (May 6) approved enactment of a Central law for prohibition of slaughter of cow and its progeny under Article 252(1) of the Constitution, in a move to overcome the problem of legislative competence of the Centre.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters after a meeting of the Union Cabinet that the Centre would act in the matter only if two or more states request it to formulate a law on the issue.

The Cabinet also approved a proposal to approach the state governments to pass a resolution on the subject in their respective legislatures and forward the same to the Central government.

This, Swaraj said, would enable the government to seek the consent of state legislatures for undertaking legislation for prohibiting slaughter of cow in the country under Article 252(1) of the Constitution.

Replying to a question, she said though Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh had written a letter to the Centre favouring such a ban, there had been no Resolution from the state Assembly to enact such a measure.

Swaraj said though many of the states have laws banning cow slaughter, they were neither uniform nor stringent as there were provisions allowing slaughter of old cows. She said that at times healthy young cows are also slaughtered taking recourse to the provision.

Besides, there were complaints from all over the country that cow and its progeny are being transported from the states where there is ban to states where no such ban has been imposed on slaughter.

PTI