The Allahabad High Court.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court sought a detailed reply from the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday on the arrangements at the cow shelters in the state.
The Lucknow bench of the court asked the director of the animal husbandry department to be present in the court during the next hearing through video-conferencing.
The court also asked what is fed to the cattle in the cow shelters for Rs 30 per day.
The next hearing of the case will be on September 25.
The order was passed by a division bench of Justices Rajan Roy and Om Prakash Shukla on a public interest litigation (PIL) plea moved by Archana Singh Tomar.
The court asked whether any survey has been conducted recently, so that it can be known how many pastures are left in the villages, whether those are still in their old form or some areas have reduced or disappeared completely.
On the question of cowsheds, the state government's lawyer told the court that at present, 605 cowsheds are functional in Uttar Pradesh, in which an amount of Rs 30 per day is given for the fodder of each cattle. On this, the court asked what is fed for Rs 30.
The court said it wants to know what is the mechanism for running these cowsheds and how many people have been appointed in these facilities.
The court has also asked the Lucknow Municipal Corporation about the mechanism for running Kanji House and Kanha Upvan (a Lucknow-based cow shelter).