HC to Chandigarh: Ensure good living conditions for animals at govt-run shelters
The trust had told the court that animals are being kept in appalling conditions in Raipur Kalan due to renovation at the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), Sector 38 West
The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has directed the UT administration to ensure proper diet, treatment and availability of clean water and ventilation for animals at government-run shelters.
The HC bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry passed these directions while taking note of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Sehjeevi Trust, a city-based charitable trust.
The trust had told the court that animals are being kept in appalling conditions in Raipur Kalan due to renovation at the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), Sector 38 West. It stated that a large number of animals have been kept in an ill-prepared facility with poor living conditions, where there is no scope for free movement, no separate area for defecation, no effective mechanism for ensuring sanitation and cleanliness, and limited access to clean water.
Further, there is no provision for CCTV monitoring, and medical infrastructure, such as operational OT, blood sampling machines, x-ray machines, are also missing. Even volunteers have been cut off from the facility due to the distance of the new location, the plea stated while demanding a suitable alternate site. Over two months have passed since the temporary ill-planned shifting of the SPCA shelter animals. Despite various written representations to authorities concerned by the trust, no action has been taken.
The plea sought directions that the SPCA be provided more budget for medicines and food for the animals, besides a probe into “systemic neglect” and “embezzlement of funds” meant for animal welfare activity.
It further demanded that the repairs at the Sector 38 facility be completed in a time-bound manner.
It was also highlighted that despite multiple irregularities noted in the Animal Welfare Board of India’s own inspection report in 2020, no remedial action was taken even though five years have passed since then. The court has sought a reply by July 29.
The trust had last month held a press conference highlighting the “appalling conditions and mismanagement” at SPCA facility. It had claimed that RTI findings revealed that 96% of the budget for SPCA goes into salaries of employees and less than 1% of the shelter’s total annual budget is spent on medicines and hospital care for animals and 3% on food, despite this being the primary focus of the centre. This had prompted the UT administrator to visit the facility a day later when the issue was highlighted in the media.
