Not Seriously Considering Impact Of Cattle Menace: Gujarat HC Expresses Concern, Directs State For Formulation Of Concrete Plan
The Gujarat High Court has directed the State and the Municipal Corporation to formulate policies and implement rules to curb the cattle menace problem in the State. The Court pulled up the State for failure to adhere to previous court orders.
A Division Bench headed by Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice M.R Mengdey said that “We have noticed that the Coordinate Bench has repeatedly issued the directions in this regard concerning 156 Nagarpalikas and 08 Corporations of the State so that the law enunciated by this Court as well as directions issued by this Court are complied with. However, even after passage of more than four years, neither the respondent Corporation nor the State has framed any concrete policy / guidelines / administrative instructions in the form of circulars and resolutions regulating the Cattle Menace.”
The Court further added that “The Coordinate Bench of this Court has in fact, expressed hope and trust that concrete proposal would be placed not only for controlling the State Cattle Menace but also implementation of the directions issued by this Court in the captioned writ petition. Despite the aforesaid assurance, we did not find that any concrete proposal in form of consolidated circular is filed or prepared, except that the same is discussed in meetings.”
Advocate Amit N. Panchal appeared for the Petitioner while Govt. Pleader Manisha Luvkumar along with AGP Chintan Dave and Senior Advocate Mihir Joshi appeared for the Respondents.
Various directions were issued to the Respondent State and Municipal Corporation to curb the problem of cattle in the street. The Coordinate Bench had directed 156 Nagarpalikas and 08 Corporations of the State so that the law enunciated by the High Court as well as directions issued are complied with. The Respondents submitted that a policy regarding the same was framed which was returned back by the Standing Committee.
Further, the Respondents assured that with bonafide intention, action will be taken and policies will be implemented to tackle the problem. The Court noted that repeated pleadings of taking action have been stated by the Respondents but to no avail.
The Court said “It is noticed by us that such assurance was also given to this Court and recorded in the order dated 18.10.2022, as mentioned hereinabove. A specific statement was made by the learned Government Pleader, giving assurance that “leading the arguments on behalf of the respondent-State and its instrumentalities, would assure the Court that a proposal, which can crystallize by way of action at the ground level, would be prepared and placed before this Court immediately after reopening of the Court”.
Further, the Court added that “The State Government was expected to come up with or frame the policy / guidelines so that the same can be equally enforced in all the Nagarpalikas and the Corporations to prevent further deaths or accidents of its citizens however, as on today, we did not find that any endeavour has been made to crystallize the guidelines or instructions curbing the Cattle Menace.”
The High Court kept the matter for further hearing on July 19, 2023, and asked the Respondent to come up with concrete solutions for the cattle menace problem.
Cause Title: Mustak Hussain Mehndi Hussain Kadri v. Jagadip Narayan Singh, IAS
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