The State should adopt a Standard Operating Procedure to not interrupt genuine trade of cattle within the country particularly from West Bengal to the North Eastern States of India. That was the Calcutta High Court’s view, expressed on Friday, as it disposed of a petition by a cattle and livestock trader.

Debjani Ghosal, Counsel for the petitioner, submitted that in course of transportation of such cattle to Meghalaya from West Bengal, various police stations on the way stopped the Petitioner’s truck and seized the cattle, and also arrested the personnel engaged in such transportation.

The counsel further submitted that Petitioner is a bona fide trader within the country in support of which documents have been filed, indicating that the Petitioner supplies cattle to the Government of Meghalaya.

Ayan Banerjee, counsel for the State, submitted that the State in principle cannot have any objection to the trade engaged in by the Petitioner to supply cattle to Meghalaya, but since the State of West Bengal has a border with the foreign country and in view of large incidents of cattle smuggling, the State police at various locations are required to be doubly vigilant.

Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, while considering the Petition was of the view that the State should adopt a Standard Operating Procedure to not interrupt genuine trade of cattle within the country particularly from West Bengal to the North Eastern States of India.

“In that view of the matter, the Inspector General of Police, North Bengal being the respondent no. 3 herein in consultation with any other necessary authorities, shall prepare a Standard Operating Procedure for the purpose of strict compliance by any trader of cattle and live stock from West Bengal to other States and within the country,” the Court ruled.

The Court further ruled that let the Petition itself be treated as a representation of the Petitioner for the purpose of preparing a Standard Operating Procedure and the Petitioner shall supply any further documents and inputs for the same.

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It is expected by the Court that Standard Operating Procedure would be finalized as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of three months from the date of communication of this order.

“Pending establishment of the Standard Operating Procedure, the Inspector General of Police, North Bengal may at its discretion allow the Petitioner to transport his cattle to the State of Meghalaya subject to compliance of all necessary formalities”, the order reads.

Source: ILNS

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the plea by the Buffalo Traders Welfare Association challenging the constitutional validity of the 2017 notifications allowing the authorities to seize the vehicles used in cattle transportation and to send the animals to gaushalas.

A three-judge bench led of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Vineet Saran was hearing the matter through video conferencing. The Court has granted two weeks time to petitioner counsel to file rejoinder. 

The petition filed by the Delhi-based cattle trader’s organization has claimed that such notifications travelled beyond the provisions of the parent law, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

The petitioner organization has challenged the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Care and Maintenance of Case Property Animals) Rules, 2017 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on May 23, 2017 for being unconstitutional and illegal.

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The organization through its President Mohd Aqil Qureshi has submitted that the notification results in frequent lootings of the animals in violation of the rule of law. Certain groups are further emboldened to take the law into their own hands. Moreover, these incidents are acting as triggers for communal polarization of society, and, if not halted effectively and immediately, those will have disastrous consequences on the social fabric of the country.