A division bench of Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the petitioner in a PIL on cattle smuggling in West Bengal to expunge the name of Union Home Affairs Amit Shah from it.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj observed that since the litigant in the concerned PIL do not have any personal allegation against the Home Minister in this matter, his name should be expunged from the PIL.
The bench also directed the petitioner to file a fresh petition in the matter within the next three days.
The litigant in the matter, advocate Ramaprasad Sarkar, known for his close links to the Trinamool Congress, filed the PIL claiming that how could cross-border cattle smuggling continue with Amit Shah at the helm of affairs in the Home Ministry.
The petitioner also argued that as the Home Minister, Shah’s duty is to review the role of the Border Security Force (BSF) in controlling cross-border cattle smuggling and hence he cannot deny his responsibilities in the matter.
However, the division bench did not accept the arguments of the petitioner and asked him to file a fresh petition expunging Shah’s name.