Deepali Kalia-
A Division Bench comprising of Justice Gopinath P and Justice A.K Jayasankaran Nambiar of Kerala High Court stayed the State’s decision to transfer funds to a women self-help group, Kudumbashree for the management of animal birth control in the State.
The Bench decided upon observing that before the transfer of funds, it was significant to determine whether Kudumbashree was competent and registered with the Animal Welfare Board, a statutory pre-condition.
The proposition was given by Amicus Senior Advocate Ramesh Babu on behalf of the State and was followed by numerous animal rights organizations voicing concerns that Kudumbashree members were not competent to carry out castration of stray dogs as they didn’t have proper training and the necessary facilities.
Last week, the Court, to better the situation of animal welfare in the State, issued additional guidelines and suggestions. It was also held by the Court that the concerned matter would be heard bi-weekly until the effective implementation of the directions.
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One of such directions included that the State Animal Welfare Board be reconstituted.
The Court had also suggested that it would be better to form one main body to handle general welfare and to constitute sub-committees for specific causes so that all interests are represented in the Board.
A Suo-moto Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had recently been registered by the Court to keep an eye on the State action in cases of animal cruelty, following which notices had been issued to the Centre, State, and Animal Welfare Board of India.
The Director-General of Prosecution during the proceedings had submitted that the FIR was registered in the case concerning a dog that had succumbed to the barbaric actions of three youngsters.
The Court then stated that it would not interfere with the investigation at this stage and would wait for the final report in the matter.