The dispute arose after a neighbor filed repeated police complaints against a local dairy owner operating a cattle shed, alleging that accumulated cattle manure, urine, and unmanaged slurry created acute health hazards and severe environmental nuisance in the locality. Acting on the grievance, local police initiated inquiries and issued directives attempting to curb or shutter the farm’s operations. The dairy operator subsequently approached the High Court seeking constitutional protection, asserting that arbitrary police interference encroached upon his fundamental right to carry on a legitimate agricultural livelihood.

Examining the statutory framework, the High Court observed that allegations concerning odors, waste runoff, and disease transmission from livestock keeping require scientific and objective assessment by specialized regulatory bodies. The court stressed that investigating police officers possess neither the technical expertise nor the legislative mandate under the Code of Criminal Procedure to measure biochemical effluent standards, evaluate solid waste compliance, or determine whether an animal husbandry enterprise constitutes an actionable environmental pollutant.

Instead, the bench directed that any substantive dispute regarding the operation, licensing, or nuisance of a cattle shed must be referred to the West Bengal Pollution Control Board alongside the relevant local civic body or municipal authority. These designated bodies are legally empowered under environmental protection statutes to conduct physical inspections, issue pollution control norms, verify environmental clearance guidelines, and prescribe required manure management interventions—such as bio-digesters, covered slurry pits, or septic containment—before ordering punitive closures.