New Delhi, November 30: The Union Government under BJP rule has decided to reverse its controversial decision of imposing a ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets.

The Centre has sought the opinion of various states on the ban, according to a  senior official from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

He added, “we sent a file to the Ministry of Law earlier this week, stating that we are withdrawing the notification due to several issues and will be revising it. A time-frame for the process has not yet been decided.”

The Union Government has attracted huge criticism over the ban. Moreover, following the announcement, many cases of murder and torture were reported from different parts of the country, which were allegedly done by certain cow protection groups.

Cattle farmers also opposed the ban which restricted the trade in markets as only animals meant for agricultural use were allowed to be sold.

Farmers bring their excess animals to livestock markets to sell it for meat.

Earlier in September, the Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said that Center may lift the ban.

At the time, he said the standards were an “administrative administration” for avoiding remorselessness to creatures and the legislature “did not expect to straightforwardly or in a roundabout way influence slaughterhouses or damage agriculturists” or “impact the sustenance propensities for people”.

The Centre asked the states to send their assessment on the warning that restricted the trade of dairy cattle for flesh market.

The Ministry also held consultations with animal rights activists and traders on the ban.

After the selling of cattle for slaughtering was banned, it created many issues in most of the states including Kerala and West Bengal.

A Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had put a four-week stay on the Centre’s notification on cattle sale in animal markets in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) upholding individual’s choice of food in May.

The High Court has asked the Central Government and the state government to reply within a month’s time over the issue.