Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

4. The facts pleaded by the petitioner in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition may be summarised briefly as under:

Under sub-section (5) of Section 249 of the Act the Corporation is under an obligation to destroy unlicenced and unclaimed stray dogs. In pursuance of this statutory duty cast on the Corporation, the Corporation, earlier used to seize unlicenced stray dogs and cause them to be destroyed. The third respondent Blue Cross claims to be an Animal Welfare Organisation and that was established recently by Smt. Amala Akkineni, aformer film actress. The said organisation has been taking up the cases of percieved cruelty to animals. In the issue ol Hindu dated 18-7-1994 it was reported that the second respondent Smt. Rachel Chatterjee and Smt. Maneka Gandhi, the former Union Minister for State decided at a meeting to hand over the dog pound of the Corporation to the Blue Cross for being converted into a birth control centre for stray dogs and under the said agreement, according to Hindu, the stray dogs would be caught and handed over to the Blue Cross which will conduct sterilisation operations, inoculate and release the dogs back into their respective streets. It is also reported in Hindu that tags and marks would be put on dogs before releasing them back into their respective streets for the purpose of easy identification. It is also claimed, as per the press report, according to the second respondent and Smt. Maneka Gandhi adoption of this new method would result in reduction of stray dogs population at least by half in a period of three years and consequently the Corporation would be in a position to put an end to the inhuman method of destruction of unlicenced and unclaimed stray dogs. 'The second respondent, without due application of mind and without examining whether the new method suggested by Smt. Maneka Gandhi was viable and expedient, acceded to the method suggested by Smt. Maneka Gandhi and accorded permission to hand-over dog pound to the third respondent for being converted into a birth control centre for stray dogs. The second respondent did it with sole intention to appease 'Smt. 'Maneka Gandhi and Smt. Amala Akkineni completely ignoring the health and safety of the residents of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secundera-
bad. On account of introduction of new method of sterilisation of the stray dogs and abandoning the earlier method of destruction of the dogs, instances of dog bites have shown an alarming rise and this fact was reported in the issues of Hindu and Deccan Chronicle dated 13-10-1994 and according to these reports, groups of stray dogs have been roaming freely in the public streets and they are terrifying the public who use the public streets. The petitioner claims that he has been personally witnessing stray dogs chasing scooterists and innocent children in a menacing manner on the streets, many times biting the unfortunate victims. Sometimes, the terrified scooterists and cyclists dash against one another or fall down with fright. The stray dogs, most of the times, are found fighting with one another on the roads and show their anger on the passers-by by chasing or biting them. It is impossible for the public to know whether the dog that bites them is inoculated or not. It is also claimed by the petitioner that he has not come across even a single stray dog with either any tag or mark. This has resulted in innocent, poor and middle class residents of the twin-cities becoming victims of dog bites and they are forced to run from pillar to post for painful medical treatment. It is also claimed that the Blue Cross does not have adequate staff trained in sterilising dogs.

6. The counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the third respondent is sworn to by its Chairperson Smt. Amala Akkineni. The facts stated in the counter-affidavit of the third respondent be summarised as under:

7. Blue Cross is an animal welfare organisation founded in January, 1993 by Smt. Amala Akkineni and a small group of animal lovers and the organisation is registered and ever since its inception it has been working sincerely for animal welfare in the twin cities. It is a moral obligation on every one that all animals whether domesticated or wild should be protected from cruelty. Animal welfare is a cause which has been thoroughly neglected though animals have been serving humanity from the dawn of civilisation. The Blue Cross has been working with the main object of preventing the uncontrolled proliferation of stray dogs and the incidence of rabies in the twin cities and it has ben conducting 25 sterilisation operations per day and the dogs' are given anti-rabies inoculations, tagged and released back in their respective areas. The laudable and result oriented new programme has resulted in tangible improvement in reducing stray dog population and it has earned compliments from the Animal Welfare Board of India. Even according to the World Health Organisation, mass destruction of dogs is not to be considered a reliable or an effective way to deal with the stray dog over-population. It is claimed that wherever there is disposal of garbage and food on the streets, there will automatically be stray dogs and the number of stray dogs, in spite of killing thousands every year, will remain in porportion to the amount of food and space available. Therefore mass destruction of stray dogs is not viable measure to deal with the problem. The effective measures recommended by the World Health Organisation in the third world countries are mass sterilisation, mass vaccination against rabies and removal of all garbage dumps, waste food etc., from city roads. The new project has been approved by the Animal Welfare Board of India by its letter dated 4-2-1994 and the Animal Welfare Board of India is providing ample funds for executing the project. It is also claimed that the dog pound is very much with the Corporation. The Corporation after noticing the miserable failure to control the stray dog over population through mass killing, has accepted the new method of sterilisation-cum-immunisa-tion with the help of the Blue Cross. The third respondent has produced materials and details to contend that the new project is not a failure but it has achieved tangible good results and the Animal Welfare Board also noticed these results and complimented the Blue Cross for its services. Lastly, the third respondent has taken strong exception to the pleading of the petitioner castigating motives to Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Smt. Amala Akkaineni and the then Commissioner Smt. Rachel Chatterjee. It is stated that without any warrant and basis, certain demeaning observations and statements are made throughout the petition averments and this part of the pleading should be disapproved.