Avaniyapuram jallikattu: Madras high court issues set of rules, forms panel

MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court has formally constituted a 20-member organising committee to conduct the jallikattu in Avaniyapuram on January 15, with former district and sessions judge C Raghavan heading it. It also issued a set of rules to be followed while conducting the event.
A division bench comprising justices K K Sasidharan and P D Audikesavalu, who passed the order on Friday on a series of writ petitions filed in connection with the Avaniyapuram jallikattu, said that apart from the former judge, the committee would also include advocates B Saravanan, N Dilip Kumar and Anand Chandrasekar.
A 16-member advisory committee with representation from the local community was also constituted. On no account should members of the advisory committee or others occupy the stage, the court said and added that it could only assist the organising committee and has no independent right to conduct jallikattu.
The judges observed that they were informed that the organisers collect substantial amount from the public and donors, without issuing receipts to conduct jallikattu. Now, only the organising committee should be authorised to collect money through banks to the possible extent. Receipts should be issued.
The district-level committee constituted by the collector under the chairmanship of the revenue divisional officer should provide all necessary assistance to the organising committee. All rules for conducting the games, including point of entry of bulls, medical examination for bulls, vadivasal, bulls’ collection point should be ensured by the district administration and police.
A meeting of the organising committee should be convened by the collector preferably on January 12, not later than January 13, to discuss the arrangements. Any kind of first right (mudal mariyadhai) should not be given to the bull, its owner or any other person.
The entire event should be videographed and produced before the court along with the report, the order stated.