Srinagar, Oct 15: The High Court on Saturday directed the state government to keep medical treatment for dog bites available at all districts even as it asked the Srinagar Municipal Corporation to file within a week, status report on the construction of dog pounds at Shuhama.

TREAT WELL ORDERS
 Observing that the dog bite cases were suffering for the want of medical treatment at district hospitals, the High Court directed the government to keep requisite vaccines and other assistance handy in all the districts of the state.
 The Division Bench headed by Chief Justice FM Ibraheem Kalifullah and Justice Muzaffar Attar took serious note of reports that poor victims of the dog bite cases were dying for the want of medical treatment which comes at a high cost, and is available mostly at SMHS Hospital in Srinagar alone.

FILE STATUS REPORT
 The SMC, which has started construction of dog pounds at Shuhama, around a month ago, was asked to file a status report about the progress in the work and that when the civic body would start catching the stray packs for their confinement and subsequent sterilization.
 Pertinently the civic body as per its officials, is spending around Rs one crore on the construction of the pounds there by utilizing money meant for development of Srinagar City. Even though the civic body was directed to complete the pound construction within a fortnight, till now there has been no word about the completion of the work.

‘AWBI HAS NO LOCUS STANDI’
 Advocate Nadeem Qadri who has filed the PIL on dog menace took up a “thought provoking” plea before the Court by pleading that Animal Welfare
 Board of India (AWBI) which has been claiming to be a party to the dog menace in Srinagar had no “locus standi” for entire Jammu and Kashmir than to talk of the City alone.
 “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 is not applicable to J&K so the observation or directions given by the AWBI are applicable anywhere in the country but not J&K,” the lawyer said adding “They (AWBI) have no role in deciding policies, which the SMC and other bodies in the state have to do adapt.”
 “As per the Municipal Corporation Act of 2000,” the lawyer said, “the SMC has right to take action in curbing the dog menace by virtue of powers vested in the Commissioner.”
 “The AWBI has got no locus-standi in JK. It’s unduly poking its nose. I pray that the civic bodies like SMC be given direction to curb the dog menace in line with the powers vested to them by law of the land,” Qadri said, he told the Court.
 The young lawyer while referring to GK’s City Page reports said that ever since the PIL had been filed in April around 2000 people have fallen prey to the dog bites in the summer Capital alone.
 “Dog menace continues to take toll even as the Court hearings go on… Something needs to be done on war footing so that the issue is solved at an earliest,” the lawyer pleaded.

THE MENACE
 Pertinently, there are over one lakh and growing canines on prowl in the City where as around 14 people fell prey to the dog bites almost everyday.
 Despite the menace, the National Conference led government has seemingly been more concerned towards the dogs as it didn’t allow any action even against the rabid dogs when sometime back a similar move was planned to “eliminate the deadly lot”.
 While the dogs continue to haunt and  the “animal admirers" support their sterilization as the only solution to this vexed issue, a million dollar question posed by Chief Justice FM Ibraheem Kalif Ullah, remains unanswered: Will dog stop biting after sterilization?

Lastupdate on : Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:00:00 IST