Stray cattle menace: Gujarat High Court warns owners of action

The Gujarat High Court on Thursday took serious note of animal owners and anti-social elements trying to obstruct Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) team from capturing animals roaming on streets. It has warned that such persons could invite contempt of court proceedings.

The second division bench of Justices M R Shah and Biren Vaishnav is hearing contempt petition, seeking court intervention against the corporation for failing to comply with the high court's past orders. The court ordered the corporation to keep city roads from cattle menace as it was not only creating nuisance but also causing accidents, sometimes fatal.

When the matter came up for hearing before the court on Thursday, the AMC filed an affidavit, claiming that the members of its Cattle Nuisance Control Department (CNCD) team were often attacked by either animal lovers or anti-social elements, stopping the team from discharging its duty to comply with the court order to keep the roads and streets free of stray animals. A total of 11 incidents of attack have been reported over the past few months.

Citing Wednesday's incident, when a group of 15 people attacked a CNCD team that was capturing stray cattle in Sardarnagar, Advocate General Kamal Trivedi submitted that the CNCD team be provided police protection. The court observed, "No one can take the law into his/her own hands. If any person, group, animal owners or anti-social elements try to obstruct corporation team or police while discharging their duty, it will be dealt with law."