The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the State government to give a wide publicity through various modes of communication to create awareness among the public on the ‘guidelines on feeding street animals and conflict resolution’, framed by the Karnataka Animal Welfare Board (KAWB).
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Krishna S. Dixit issued the direction after the State government, in response to the court’s direction issued on a PIL petition, submitted the guidelines framed by the KAWB in 2022 in addition to the instructions and circulars issued by the Urban Development Department (UDD) to various urban local authorities on managing street dogs and other stray animals.
Noticing that the guidelines mention that the points for feeding stray animals should be at places less frequented by the public to avoid conflict and hence suggests that there should be dedicated places for feeding stray animals, the Bench pointed out its earlier observation expressing concerned about feeding of stray dogs and birds at important locations of the city where large number of public visits.
The Bench also noted that the guidelines also states that of anyone has any grievance with regard to any act of caregivers in relation to feeding of community dogs, they must engage in dialogue and discussion through the Animal Welfare Committee; and if this does not solve the issue, the Resident Welfare Association may bring grievance to the notice of the DSPCA, which shall ensure expeditious resolution of the issue.
Pointing out that it would not not be possible to implement the guideline unless the public at large are made of it, the Bench said that the Government should resort to various communication modes to give wide publicity for the guidelines.
Compensation
Earlier, the government brought to the notice that Additional Chief Secretary (UDD) had on October 6 held a meeting with the stakeholders, including the urban local authorities on implementation of various instructions issued for management street dogs and other stray animals and sought the response from the local authorities on implementation of circulars and notifications issued by the government.
The government also informed the court that it ha issued a circular to the local authorities to pay a compensation of ₹5,000 for the victims in case of stray dog bites and ₹5 lakh in case of death due to stray dog attack.
