Plea to allow village panel to conduct jallikattu rejected

Madurai: Madras high court has denied relief to a man who sought a direction to the authorities to permit the village committee to conduct jallikattu at Avaniyapuram in Madurai district on Jan 15 with adequate police protection. In his petition, P Murugan, president of Avaniyapuram Village Jallikattu Committee, sought a direction to the authorities in this regard. The state submitted that according to Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act, 2009, and Standard Operating Procedure issued by animal welfare department vide communication dated Nov 21, 2025, jallikattu at Avaniyapuram is organised by revenue officials with the assistance of villagers, who form part of the advisory committee.A division bench of Justice G Jayachandran and Justice K K Ramakrishnan observed that considering the international importance of jallikattu conducted at Avaniyapuram, Alanganallur and Palamedu, the state itself directly organises the events. Therefore, the petitioner cannot make any independent request to grant permission for his committee to conduct jallikattu at Avaniyapuram.The judges observed that the petitioner's counsel submitted that at least the advisory committee must consist of collective representation of all communities in that village. In response, the state submitted that the committee will be constituted as was the practice in previous years and also considering the guidelines of this court issued on a batch of petitions in 2020. Recording the submissions, the judges disposed of the petition.