The Gujarat High Court has stayed an order of the Kutch district collector which had prohibited port authorities from allowing export of livestock.
Justice Bela Trivedi stayed the collector's order Wednesday while hearing a petition filed by the Livestock Exporters Association.
The collector had prohibited the Deendayal Port Trust (also known as Kandla Port Trust) to stop export of animals, especially from the Tuna port in the district.
The order had come ahead of the Eid festival last month, when animals are in great demand for export.
The association challenged the order in the high court, saying that the collector has no powers in this regard as exports come under the Union government's purview.
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Granting interim relief to the association, Justice Trivedi stayed the order till the petition is decided.
On August 6, when a cargo of over 10,000 sheep and goats was about to sail for Gulf countries, Kutch collector Remya Mohan constituted a three-member committee to probe if the exporters had violated provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
On the same day, she also directed the Deendayal Port Trust to "ensure that no movement of livestock takes place until further decision is arrived at under the Act".
The committee, in its report on August 7, said that violation of the Act "might have occurred".
Further, the committee suggested that "no animals shall be allowed to be exported unless necessary documents are provided and required arrangements for the welfare of these animals are made by the exporters".
The high court said in its stay order that the committee's recommendation "appears to be prima facie without any authority of law".
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