Cuttack, Nov. 21: A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in Orissa High Court today sought judicial intervention against smuggling of cows from Odisha.

A city-based voluntary organisation, Legal Support and Social Action (LESSA) secretary Gadadhar Sahoo said that more than 2.5 lakh cows were being illegally transported every month to Andhra Pradesh and Bengal for slaughter.

The PIL contended that although illegal transportation of cows was banned under the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, increasing number of “sick and diseased” cows are finding their way to the two neighbouring states from Koraput, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Cuttack and Puri districts in overloaded trucks through several routes without any fear.

The Odisha Assembly had enacted the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960, to ensure that “no person shall, at any place within the state slaughter or cause to be slaughtered or offer or cause to be offered for slaughter of a cow or a bull or bullock unless he has obtained a certificate in writing, from the competent authority of the area in which such cow, bull or bullock is to be slaughtered certifying that it is fit for slaughter”.

“The authorities who are supposed to safeguard the law and order situation have closed their eyes to such blatant flouting of law. Taking advantage of such callous attitude on the part of the authorities, unscrupulous sellers are trying to mint money by transporting sick and diseased cows out of the state,” the PIL said.

According to the petition, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) had already taken note of illegal transportation of cattle from Odisha and written a letter to the director general of police (DGP) on September 9, 2011 asking him to take action.