SPCA to reconstitute its managing committee after almost 3 years

A senior officer from the SPCA said that they are in the process of completing the police verification of candidates from non-government organisations/individuals who have applied for membership of the committee. Thereafter, a final list of members will be sent to the state government for approval

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) – a crucial body under the animal husbandry department – has started reconstituting its managing committee after almost three years. The managing committee comprises 15 to 16 members from both government and non-government organisations and individuals working for animal welfare.

SPCA is a society constituted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and its primary objective is to help authorities including the state, local authorities, and animal welfare board to prevent cruelty to animals, especially domestic ones, and also ensure enforcement of laws under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

Multiple applications have been received from individuals wanting to be part of the managing committee. A senior officer from the SPCA said that they are in the process of completing the police verification of candidates from non-government organisations/individuals who have applied for membership of the committee. Thereafter, a final list of members will be sent to the state government for approval, the senior officer said.

SPCA is a society constituted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and its primary objective is to help authorities including the state, local authorities, and animal welfare board to prevent cruelty to animals, especially domestic ones, and also ensure enforcement of laws under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. The SPCA is authorised to search and seize any animal from any person who has committed an offence under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. It can also authorise a person to do the same on its behalf.

The SPCA managing committee comprises the district commissioner as the head of the committee; education commissioner; regional transport officer (RTO); municipal commissioners from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC); and 11 members from non-government organisations or individuals working for animal welfare. The officer from the animal husbandry department is a member-secretary of the society. In Pune, the district SPCA is a function under the animal husbandry department. The last society body completed its tenure in 2020. However, due to the pandemic, it received an extension of one year. After the pandemic period was over, the society still did not get any boost to reconstitute its non-government member body. However, in the past five months, the animal husbandry department has taken rapid strides to reconstitute the society.

Accordingly, applications were called from people willing to be members of the society and this received a tremendous response from the citizens. After scrutinising all the applications, the department selected 11 members for the society. As part of the process, police verification of these members has been carried out and soon, the final list will be sent to the state authority for approval.

Arun Parihar, district deputy commissioner of the animal husbandry department, who is also the current member-secretary for the district SPCA, said, “Multiple complaints are being received about cruelty to animals. However, due to a shortage of manpower and also the absence of a proper body, it is difficult for the society to attend to these complaints on time. Now that there has been progress, we expect that soon the society will start functioning dynamically. The police verification process has been completed but we are yet to receive proper confirmation; once it is received, the final list will be sent to the state government.”