Wednesday, October 26 2005 16:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today (Oct 26, 2005) upheld the 1994 Gujarat Government order banning slaughter of bulls and bullocks over the age of 16 years.

A seven-judge constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice R C Lahoti set aside the judgement of the 1998 Gujarat High Court, which termed it as unconstitutional.

The High Court had held that the Government order imposed unreasonable restrictions on the fundamental rights of some petitioners who were involved in the trade.

The Apex Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Gujarat Government order in a six to one ratio.

Earlier, the matter, which was heard by a five-judge bench, was referred to a seven-judge bench for the interpretation of provisions of the constitution, specially with regard to status of directive principles viz a viz fundamental rights.