HC comes down hard on Guj govt over ban on cattle export

The Gujarat High Court has quashed three notifications of the state government aimed at stopping export of livestock from Tuna Port, terming it "colourable exercise of powers" to do something which cannot be done directly.

A division bench of justices Harsha Devani and Bhargav Karia passed the judgment last week.

The court noted that "with a view to appease a section of the society which is averse to export of livestock from Tuna Port, the government has...from time to time taken all steps to ensure that petitioners and other similarly situated persons are not able to export livestock from Tuna Port".

Several livestock exporters had knocked the high court's doors after the state government issued various orders in December 2018 which in effect banned export of animals from Tuna in Kutch.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had announced in December that his government will not allow export of animals from the port, noted the high court.

On the same day the Agriculture Department issued a ...