The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu police to file a status report on the steps taken to prevent the illegal transport of cattle from Tamil Nadu to neighboring states.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice R. Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq also instructed the police and the Tamil Nadu government to respond to the claims made by activist and designated Senior Advocate Elephant G. Rajendran, the petitioner in the case. Rajendran asserted that the police had yet to act on his representations highlighting three separate instances of such illegal cattle transport.
Rajendran informed the Court that authorities had failed to curb instances of “illegal export of cattle to other states for butchering” despite an order passed in 2022 by a bench of the then Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy.
In its 2022 order, the Court had directed the National Highways Authority of India, the State, and the police not to permit the passage of vehicles carrying cattle without a valid certificate from the Animal Welfare Board, Rajendran said.
However, despite his representations to the Tamil Nadu DGP regarding three instances where lorries were illegally exporting cattle from Tamil Nadu to other states, the police did not take any action.
After considering Rajendran’s submissions, the Court directed the police to file a status report on the issue within eight weeks.
“And who is this officer who has failed to take action (on Rajendran’s representation)? He is incapable of continuing in his post,” the bench said, adjourning the matter for further hearing in eight weeks.
