UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — SC stays Madras HC’s ban on cow slaughter

Question 1

Under the Tamil Nadu Animal Preservation Act, 1958, a cow or buffalo that is unfit for breeding or work may be certified fit for slaughter only if it has completed how many years of age?

Accepted Answer

10 years

Answer

8 years

Answer

12 years

Answer

14 years

Question 2

In the context of the Tamil Nadu Animal Preservation Act, 1958, what precisely does a 'fit-for-slaughter certificate' issued by the competent authority certify?

Accepted Answer

That the animal is above 10 years of age and unfit for breeding or work, or is permanently incapacitated

Answer

That the animal is free from communicable disease and its meat is fit for human consumption

Answer

That the owner has no other cattle and is economically entitled to dispose of the animal

Answer

That the slaughter will be performed in a municipally licensed slaughterhouse using approved methods

Question 3

The Supreme Court Bench that in July 2026 stayed the Madras High Court's State-wide ban on cow and calf slaughter in Tamil Nadu comprised how many judges?

Accepted Answer

Two judges

Answer

Three judges

Answer

Five judges

Answer

Seven judges

Question 4

With reference to the Special Leave Petition on which the Supreme Court stayed the Madras High Court's cow-slaughter ban in 2026, consider the following laws and rules relied upon by the State of Tamil Nadu to show that cattle slaughter is already a regulated activity:
1. Tamil Nadu Animal Preservation Act, 1958
2. Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001
3. Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972
4. Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?

Accepted Answer

1, 2 and 4

Answer

1 and 3

Answer

2 and 4

Answer

3 only

Question 5

Which one of the following statements correctly conveys the content of Article 48 of the Constitution of India?

Accepted Answer

The State shall endeavour to organise agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds and prohibiting the slaughter of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle

Answer

The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the forests and wild life of the country

Answer

It shall be the duty of every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures

Answer

The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties

Question 6

Of the following five animals — cows, calves, milch cattle, draught cattle and buffaloes — how many are expressly named in Article 48 as animals whose slaughter the State shall take steps to prohibit?

Accepted Answer

Only four

Answer

Only two

Answer

Only three

Answer

All five

Question 7

Of the following four features — (i) grant of relief wider than the prayer actually made in the writ petition; (ii) directions to the Chief Secretary and senior police officers to enforce the ruling; (iii) a prohibition operating on the eve of Bakrid as well as on any other day; (iv) a declaration striking down the Tamil Nadu Animal Preservation Act, 1958 as unconstitutional — how many were actually features of the Madras High Court order of 27 May 2026 that the Supreme Court later stayed?

Accepted Answer

Only three

Answer

Only one

Answer

Only two

Answer

All four

Question 8

Consider the following descriptions of doctrines invoked in the challenge to the Madras High Court's cow-slaughter order:
1. Judicial review — the power of constitutional courts to test the validity of legislative and executive action against the Constitution.
2. Judicial overreach — a court going beyond adjudication and assuming the policy-making or law-making functions of the legislature or executive.
3. Judicial restraint — the principle that courts should not interfere with matters falling within the domain of the other organs except within constitutional limits.
4. Public Interest Litigation — a proceeding in which the court is barred from granting any relief that the petitioner has not expressly prayed for.
Which of the above is/are NOT correct?

Accepted Answer

4 only

Answer

1 only

Answer

2 and 3

Answer

1 and 4

Question 9

Karnataka currently prohibits the slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks of all ages, while barring the slaughter of buffaloes only up to 13 years of age. This regime is laid down by which one of the following?

Accepted Answer

The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2021

Answer

The Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, 1964

Answer

The Karnataka Animal Preservation Act, 1958

Answer

The Karnataka Prohibition of Cow Slaughter and Animal Preservation Act, 1977

Question 10

Among the following States, which one prescribes the harshest maximum punishment — extending up to imprisonment for life — for the offence of cattle slaughter?

Accepted Answer

Gujarat

Answer

Karnataka

Answer

Assam

Answer

Tamil Nadu

Question 11

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 — and the Animal Welfare Board of India constituted under Section 4 of that Act — are administered at the Union level by which one of the following?

Accepted Answer

Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying

Answer

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Answer

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare

Answer

Ministry of Home Affairs

Question 12

Which one of the following was the first Supreme Court decision to test the constitutional validity of State cattle-slaughter prohibition laws, holding that a total ban on the slaughter of bulls, bullocks and buffaloes of all ages was an unreasonable restriction on butchers' right to trade even though a complete ban on cow slaughter was valid?

Accepted Answer

Mohd. Hanif Quareshi v State of Bihar (1958)

Answer

Abdul Hakim Quraishi v State of Bihar (1961)

Answer

State of West Bengal v Ashutosh Lahiri (1995)

Answer

State of Gujarat v Mirzapur Moti Kureshi Kassab Jamat (2005)

UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — SC stays Madras HC’s ban on cow slaughter

Q1. Under the Tamil Nadu Animal Preservation Act, 1958, a cow or buffalo that is unfit for breeding or work may be certified fit for slaughter only if it has completed how many years of age?

Q2. In the context of the Tamil Nadu Animal Preservation Act, 1958, what precisely does a 'fit-for-slaughter certificate' issued by the competent authority certify?

Q3. The Supreme Court Bench that in July 2026 stayed the Madras High Court's State-wide ban on cow and calf slaughter in Tamil Nadu comprised how many judges?

Q5. Which one of the following statements correctly conveys the content of Article 48 of the Constitution of India?

Q6. Of the following five animals — cows, calves, milch cattle, draught cattle and buffaloes — how many are expressly named in Article 48 as animals whose slaughter the State shall take steps to prohibit?

Q9. Karnataka currently prohibits the slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks of all ages, while barring the slaughter of buffaloes only up to 13 years of age. This regime is laid down by which one of the following?

Q10. Among the following States, which one prescribes the harshest maximum punishment — extending up to imprisonment for life — for the offence of cattle slaughter?

Q11. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 — and the Animal Welfare Board of India constituted under Section 4 of that Act — are administered at the Union level by which one of the following?