Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru (RJP)
Bengaluru, Nov 16: Law minister T B Jayachandra has made it clear that any decision on the Kambala ban has not been yet made.
“Only after studying the issue properly a decision will be made,” the law minister said.
Jayachandra was speaking after holding a high level meeting with officials at Vidhana Soudha. The meeting was necessitated after the Udupi district administration received a directive from state chief secretary saying Kambala should not be held in the district. The directive cited the Supreme Court order.
Supreme Court had ordered the ban on Kambala, citing the reason of animal cruelty. The Indian animal welfare board had gone to the court demanding the ban.
The district administration had received applications to hold Kambala events from November 15, 2014 to March 28, 2015 in different places. The said directive came at a time when preparations for the beginning of the annual Kambala were going on.
It was debated that the said that violence on the animals is not practiced in the region and so many modifications have taken place in the recent past to make it animal friendly. Some legal experts even opined that the said ban is not applicable to Kambala.
Jayachandra promised that he would study the directives by Animal Welfare Board.
“Kambala is a traditional sport of costal Karnataka. It is an emotional issue as well. We will not take any decision on Kambala in a hurry.” Jayachandra said.
Earlier in a television interview he had said that Supreme Court order which mentioned animal violence would be studied in detail with regard to implications on local Kambala.