CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court’s special bench for PILs on civic problems in Cuttack city has decided to consider afresh the menace of stray dogs and cattle on October 3.
The bench of Justice SK Sahoo and Justice V Narasingh directed the deputy solicitor general of India Prasanna Kumar Parhi to obtain instruction from the chairman of Animal Welfare Board of India on the reason for delay in giving response to the application submitted by health officer, CMC.
Government advocate Jyoti Prakash Pattnaik submitted that in view of the decision of the Supreme Court on stray dogs, steps are required to be taken as per notification of the central government under the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023. The top court had ordered that stray dogs must not be indiscriminately killed and any action to manage their population must fall within the ambit of law.
Accordingly, CMC health officer Dr Satyabrata Mohapatra had submitted that in pursuance of such decision and rules, steps have already been taken. He produced before the court an application dated March 19, 2024 and stated that no response has been received from the Centre.
A report submitted by CMC also indicated that the cattle seizure operation is being carried out in two shifts - from 7 am to 12 noon and from 2 pm to 7 pm. The seized cattle are kept in CMC’s kine house at Sati Chaura for seven days and then released to the owners with proper identification after collecting fine along with feeding charges.
Between April 1 and August 3 this year, more than Rs 2.69 lakh has been collected from cattle owners towards fine and feeding charges. When the seized cattle are not claimed by any person within seven days, they are left 20 km away from the city at night hours, the report stated. On the matter, the bench said, “After going through the report placed before us, we are of the view that a proper action plan is required to be drawn up by increasing the resources and logistics to address this issue.”