India, April 23 -- The Bombay high court on Tuesday set up a committee under retired justice Abhay Thipsay to suggest guidelines for granting licences to animals that can be declared fit for slaughter. These would include animals not suitable for milking, agricultural, or any other purposes. The committee will also determine what animals can be categorised as "not useful" for other purposes.

A division bench of chief justice Alok Aradhe and justice Makarand Karnik passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation filed by Al-Quraish Human Welfare Trust, which said there was a lack of clarity on how animals could be declared "not useful" under the Maharashtra Preservation of Animals Act, 1976.

The trust had initially approached the high c...