Guwahati, Feb. 21 -- The Supreme Court on Friday puled up the Assam government for focusing on meat transporters instead of more productive work.

A bench of Justices AS Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan questioned the state's priorities while granting interim relief to a transporter charged with transporting packaged raw meat, Bar and Bench reported.

"The State should have better things to do than running after these people," the bench remarked.

The top court stayed the criminal proceedings against the transporter and scheduled the next hearing for April 16.

The judges also pointed out the difficulty of visually distinguishing packaged raw meat from different animals.

"How a person will know only if there is meat, that it is meat of beef. By seei...