Panaji: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has pulled up the Union government and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for failing to file affidavits on steps taken to implement Supreme Court directions aimed at keeping highways free of stray animals.
The Supreme Court directions require authorities to identify and remove stray animals, including dogs and cattle, from national and state highways and
expressways, relocate them to designated shelters, deploy highway patrol teams and establish toll-free helplines for commuters to report strays.
The High Court noted that despite its August 5 direction requiring compliance affidavits by August 7, neither the Centre nor NHAI had filed them even by August 12. Terming their approach “lackadaisical”, the court directed both to file the affidavits by August 19.
The High Court said heavy capital expenditure on physical shelters alone would not solve the problem without an aggressive, systematic sterilisation programme, adding that spending even a fraction of proposed infrastructure funds on systematic sterilisation would yield far better results.
The court instructed amicus curiae advocate Terence Sequeira, state legal representatives, the Goa State Animal Welfare Board and relevant department heads to hold joint consultations.
The court requested the amicus curiae to submit a concise two-page actionable draft outlining prioritised directions, target timelines and monitoring mechanisms for consideration at the next hearing.
