Holding the State government and municipal corporation of Sangli liable for the death of a five-year-old three years back, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed directed them to pay ₹50,000 as compensation with 8% interest since 2015.
A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Sandeep Shinde was hearing a plea filed by Maruti Hale,30, and Dhanamma Hale, 28, a labourer who lost their only child, Tejas to five stray dogs on December 22, 2015.
The petition filed on their behalf by advocate Padmanabh Pise says, “As per the provisions of The Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules 2001, the municipal corporation is duty bound to observe the rules and take steps accordingly. As per the rules, the local authority shall sterilised and immunised to the street dogs and the corporation is required to form a committee which shall be known as monitoring committee.”
“The committee shall have a representative of the Public Health Department of local authority, a representative of the Animal Welfare Department if any of local authority, a veterinary doctor or representative of District Society for Prevention of Cruelty of Animals, and at least two representatives from animal welfare organisations operating within the local authority.”
The plea also points out that the rules came into force in 2001 but till date no committee has been constituted for monitoring dog bite cases. The petitioners sought a compensation of ₹20 lakh from the court.
The court said, “This incident is ‘shocking’ and noted that the State and the municipal corporation are liable to pay the compensation under Right to Life, Article 21 (no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law) of the Indian Constitution.”
The court then directed that the petitioners be paid ₹50,000 and 8% interest since from December 2015 within a week. It also directed the municipal corporation to set up a monitoring committee by January 31, 2019.
