New Delhi: The newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal on Wednesday (May 14) made a ‘fit-for-slaughter’ certificate mandatory for slaughtering bovine animals.The state government’s notice also barred the public slaughter of bulls, bullocks, cows, calves, buffaloes, buffalo calves and castrated buffaloes even if they had the certificate.Many of the provisions of the notice were already in place, the Telegraph reported. Notably, the notice did not mention exemptions for slaughter for religious, medicinal or research purposes.The notice comes days before Eid-al-Adha or Bakr Eid on May 26. One of the traditions as part of Eid celebrations is the slaughtering of goat, sheep or ram.“No person shall slaughter any animal, thereby meaning bulls, bullocks, cows, calves, male and female buffaloes, buffalo calves and castrated buffaloes, unless he has obtained in respect thereof a certificate that the animal is fit for slaughter,” the notice issued by the home and hill affairs department said.According to the notice, a certificate will be issued by the municipality chairman or the sabhapati of a panchayat along with a government veterinary surgeon only if both officials provide in writing that the animal is “over 14 years of age for work or breeding or the animal has become permanently incapacitated due to age, injury, deformity or any incurable disease”.Applicants are allowed to appeal against the denial of a certificate within 15 days of being informed about the rejection of their application.Further, the slaughtering of animals with the necessary certificates is “strictly prohibited” in the open. The animal must be taken to a municipal slaughterhouse or one designated by the local administration, the notice states.“Nobody shall resist inspection of any premises by a person authorised by the chairman of a municipality or the sabhadipati of a panchayat samity or the government veterinary surgeon for implementing the provisions of the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act 1950,” the notice added.Those found in violation of these provisions may face up to six months’ imprisonment, a fine of up to Rs 1,000, or both, the paper reported citing the notice.Among other orders, the Suvendu Adhikari-led government in West Bengal has also made it mandatory to sing Vande Mataram in schools across the state during morning assembly.“The singing of ‘Vande Mataram’ during morning assembly prayers prior to the start of classes should be made mandatory so that it is sung by all students in all schools in the state with immediate effect,” according to the official notification.The order comes amid the Modi government’s year-long celebrations around the national song, as part of which the Union government had in January directed all six stanzas of Vande Mataram to be played at official functions.