Karnataka to drop changes to Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act

Bengaluru, May 6: The state Cabinet on Friday decided to drop the proposed amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, which seeks to empower the state government to bring in necessary changes to the Act.

Law Minister T B Jayachandra told reporters after the Cabinet meeting that President Pranab Mukherjee has taken objection to the amendment and directed the government to drop it from the amendment bill – the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals (Karnataka Amendment) bill, 2017 – passed in the state legislature in February this year.

However, the President has not taken any objection to legalising Kambala (the traditional buffalo race), which is also a part of amendment bill.

“The bill was aimed at legalising Kambala (the traditional buffalo race) and bullock cart race. Besides legalising Kambala, the government had also proposed to empower itself to bring in other necessary amendments to the Act, which is a Central Act, in future. But, the President has directed to modify the bill,” he stated.

The modified bill will be sent back to the President through the Karnataka Governor. The proposed amendment will come into effect soon after the President gives his assent. He also said there is no need for tabling the bill again in the state legislature for the sake of modifying it. He said the Cabinet deferred taking any decision on a proposal to introduce special sand mining policy in non-Coastal Regulation Zone areas of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts.

RERA implementation to be delayed

Implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) will be delayed in Karnataka as the government has failed to finalise the draft rules.

Jayachandra said the Cabinet is likely to discuss the draft rules its next meeting. The Law department has cleared the draft rules and forwarded them to the Urban Development Department (UDD). The rules will be placed before the Cabinet soon after the UDD clears them, he added.

The Cabinet decided to send senior sub-registrar, BTM Layout, Bengaluru, Girish Chandra, and junior engineer in Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department S K Hegde on compulsory retirement in connection with charges of irregularities against them. The Cabinet also approved construction of Morarji Desai residential schools in several places at the total expenditure of Rs 512 crore.