Remove stray cattle with sensitivity: High Court to Punjab

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, July 10

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the State of Punjab and urban local body authorities to ensure rounding up stray cattle with proper sensitivity from all urban areas before sending them to pounds. The direction came as a Division Bench took note of the dangers posed by stray cattle to commuters in urban areas with heavy vehicular traffic.

Taking up a bunch of petitions filed in public interest on the stray cattle menace, the Bench of Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Vikas Bahl observed that the purpose of filing the PIL stood fulfilled as rules and bylaws had been made applicable to urban areas and the relief sought had been reasonably redressed by the State of Punjab.

457 GAUSHALAS OPERATIONAL

• The state informed the high court that district animal husbandry societies would be constituted in each district under the supervision of the deputy commissioner for cattle pounds management
• In a status report filed before the court, the deputy secretary to the Punjab Local Government Department said 457 gaushalas/cattle pounds, registered with the Punjab Gau Sewa Commission, were operational in the state

The Bench added that it was confident that the state and authorities, including those in charge of urban local bodies, would ensure that the bylaws were strictly adhered to and due compliance was achieved by undertaking the exercise of picking up stray cattle from all urban areas before transporting them to the nearby “gaushalas”.

“The State shall ensure that the said exercise is done with proper sensitivity as it is to be noticed that on account of heavy vehicular traffic flow in urban areas, the menace of stray cattle, whether moving or stationary, can lead to injuries being sustained and accidents occurring which sometimes prove fatal to the person driving or travelling on foot. Additionally, it has come to notice that stray cattle, while engaged in fighting amongst themselves, also cause injuries to pedestrians,” the Bench observed.

At the onset, the Bench observed that the relief sought to be provided in the suo motu case and a bunch of petitions filed in the matter was the construction of pounds with requisite infrastructure for confining the stray animals “so that the innocent citizens are not hit in everyday life”. Directions were also sought to look after the stray animals.