Bengal govt gets three months to set up SOP

New Delhi, June 27: In an interesting case, the Calcutta High Court has directed the West Bengal Government to devise a standard operating procedure (SOP) within three months to ensure that genuine cattle trade within the country, particularly from West Bengal to the Northeastern states including Meghalaya, is not interrupted.
Justice Rajasekhar Mantha was hearing a writ petition wherein the petitioner had alleged that during the course of his business of transporting cattle to Meghalaya from West Bengal, various police personnel had halted his truck and also seized his cattle and arrested the persons involved in such transportation.
Being a bona fide trade, the petitioner M/s Pioneer Live Stock represented by Debjani Ghosal claimed for relief from the Court.
Cattle smuggling along the porous India-Bangladesh border has always been a concern. The South Bengal frontier, which guards across 913 km from the Sunderbans to Malda, of which 360 km is riverine, has been considered most vulnerable to cross- border smuggling.
Granting relief to the petitioner, the Court also directed the state to permit the petitioner to transport his cattle to the state of Meghalaya subject to compliance of all necessary formalities. The counsel submitted that the state has no objection to legal cattle trade but police are becoming doubly vigilant because of the current state of affairs and borders with Bangladesh.
The petitioner submitted that in the course of transportation of such cattle to Meghalaya from West Bengal, various police stations on the way have stopped his truck and have seized the cattle and have also arrested the personnel engaged in such transportation. Counsel for the petitioner submits that he is a bona fide trader within the country.
Counsel for the state counsel submits that the state in principle cannot have any objection to the trade engaged in by the petitioner to supply cattle to Meghalaya but since West Bengal has a border with Bangladesh and in view of large incidents of cattle smuggling, the state at various locations are required to be doubly vigilant.
Increased vigilance has led to reduction in cattle smuggling in south Bengal but there has been a change in the trend of cattle smuggling and now more cattle is being smuggled from the Guwahati Frontier and also from Meghalaya.

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