KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday held that the clauses in the by-laws of resident associations preventing owners/tenants of residential apartments from keeping pet animals of their choice or accessing the elevators and common facilities in the apartment buildings are illegal and unconstitutional. "Our coastal state, which announces itself to be ‘God's own country’ to visitors who come calling to its shores, cannot be seen denying just privileges to its animal inhabitants," observed the court.
A Division Bench comprising Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Gopinath P issued the order on a petition filed by People For Animals (PFA) challenging the by-laws of the association that prohibits the residents from keeping pets of their choice in their individual apartments.
The state government submitted that denying permission to occupiers of residential apartments to keep pets of their choice, while infringing their fundamental rights would also infringe the fundamental freedoms recognised in animals by the decision of the Supreme Court.
The court makes it clear that the resident associations can stipulate reasonable conditions that must be adhered to by the owners/residents of individual apartments while keeping pets therein. The Animal Welfare Board of India has issued a letter on February 26, 2015, issuing guidelines on this subject. It could be adopted by resident association associations while stipulating conditions for the keeping of pets in the apartments concerned.
"We believe the time has indeed come to nudge our citizenry into respecting the claims of other living beings that too have rights in our shared ecosystem. Compassion and empathy are the very essence of civilization and we must strive to preserve these values as part of our culture. It is often an inadequate understanding of the subject that fuels one’s intolerance to that ‘other’ and hence the state and its institutions of governance must take appropriate measures to inculcate a spirit of accommodation towards animals amongst our people, preferably by introducing animal awareness programmes at the school level in the state," held the court.
The court also declared that clauses in any by-law or agreement, which have the effect of absolutely prohibiting a person from keeping a pet of his/her choice in a residential unit occupied by that person, should be treated as void and unenforceable in law. The resident owners’ associations and resident welfare associations shall desist from putting up notice boards and signposts prohibiting the keeping or entry of pets in their respective premises, held the court.
