Implement cattle transport law: Delhi High Court

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Friday directed the Centre, the AAP government and the Delhi police to ensure compliance of legal provisions on transporting cattle meant for slaughter, saying violation of these laws “cannot be countenanced”.

A bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice C. Hari Shankar said that none of the authorities have been able to show compliance or implementation of the statutory regime and rules and underscored that action deserves to be taken on complaints and first information reports (FIRs)  lodged against the violations.

The court noted while the petitioner has cited several instances of violations and lodging of FIRs, the authorities have not indicated a single violation.

The high court also observed that the authorities, including the police have not even shown whether any prosecution was carried out pursuant to the FIRs.

The court said that the issue was “important” and “following the laws and rules is mandatory”.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) alleging that cattle meant for slaughter were subjected to cruelty as they were transported in overloaded trucks.

The high court further directed the authorities to “ensure compliance of the statutory regime and rules” and disposed of the petition filed through advocate Anupam Tripathi.

The petitioners, animal rights activists Saurabh Gupta and Gaurav Gupta, had claimed in their peritrion that cattle were being ferried in blatant violation of the Transport of Animal Rules and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and more than half of the animals die during the journey.

The plea had also alleged that the central government, the Delhi government and the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) are turning a blind eye to these violations.