A cow protection group led by Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati Ji Maharaj has decided to file a petition before the Supreme Court against airport authorities. This follows the denial of permission for their chartered flight to take off from Agartala and land at Shillong Airport on Saturday.

The refusal came after the state government requested that the chartered flight be denied landing rights at Shillong Airport, citing concerns over potential law and order issues in Meghalaya.

An official source said, "Due to certain law and order situation at Meghalaya as intimated by the state administration as well as the Airport Director Shillong Airport, the departure of the said non-scheduled flight from Agartala to Shillong is hereby not permitted."

The denial of permission has forced the group to cancel its visit to Shillong. The proposed visit of Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati was to propagate ban on cow slaughter. Registering strong opposition, pressure groups were camping outside the Shillong Airport to protest against the arrival of Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, sources said.

Speaking on behalf of the group, spokesperson Raja Saksham Singh Yogi stated, “We are going back to Guwahati (from Agartala) but will do legal proceedings against the Airport authorities very soon. We are just talking to our legal advisor to file the case against both Shillong and Agartala airport authorities.”

“We are going back to Guwahati as we don’t want to create any kind of mess or disturb the law and order. But will file a petition in supreme court soon,” he added.

On Friday, the Meghalaya government had written to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to deny the landing of a chartered flight of the leader of a cow protection group at Umroi airport on Saturday.