Allahabad High Court dismisses PIL seeking direction to kill birds, stray dogs causing nuisance
The PIL sought a direction to Nagar Nigam, Lucknow to destruct the birds or animals causing nuisance or vermin as well as the stray or ownerless dogs.
The Allahabad High Court recently dismissed a Public Interest Litigation filed way back in 2009 seeking direction to kill birds or animals including stray dogs which cause nuisance or vermin.
The bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi and Justice Ramesh Sinha noted that through the present PIL, the petitioner had sought a direction to the Nagar Nigam, Lucknow to discharge the duty to kill the trouble-causing animals and birds.
The division bench, however, held that "such a direction cannot be issued by the court as there is no provision which obliges the Nagar Nigam to kill innocent animals".
In view of the above, the court found the petition meritless and dismissed the same.
The menace caused by stray dogs has been a burning issue in the past few months. Before various high courts as well as the Supreme Court, multiple petitions have been filed seeking directions to the authorities to take steps to curb the menace.
The subject matter of the present PIL was engaging the attention of the Apex Court in Civil Appeal No. 5988 of 2019, Animal welfare Board of India v. People for the elimination of stray troubles & Ors. and the Apex Court vide order dated 12.10.2022 clarified its order dated 18.11.2015 that the authorities/ individuals including associations and organizations are at liberty to approach the jurisdictional High Courts for redressal of their grievances.
Thereafter, three pleas pertaining to the issue of menace created by stray dogs and birds, and other animals pending before the high court were tagged together for hearing.
One of the pleas pertained to a stray dog attack incident where a child and his sister were attacked by a pack of dogs in Lucknow when they were returning home from his father's nearby shop. The eight-year-old boy died in the incident whereas his sister survived.
The State Government paid Rs. 1,50,000 to the petitioners, who are the family members of the deceased child as compensation, however, taking into account the arguments put forth by the counsel for the petitioners, the high court called upon the Lucknow Nagar Nigam to file an affidavit as to why adequate compensation of Rs. 10,00,000 may not be awarded to the family of the deceased child.
Case Title: Manoj Kumar Dubey Advocate S/O Ram Mani Nath Dubey v. State Of U.P. Thru Prin. Secy. Nagar Vikas And Anr