Expressing displeasure over the undesirable condition of the Nagrota-based ‘Gowshala’ (cattle pound) here, a division bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh headed by Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan orally directed in the open court the termination of contract of the outsourced agency in case the deficiencies persist before the next date of hearing. The bench comprising Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Rajesh Sekhri was hearing the much-publicised Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO “SAVE” (Save Animals Value Environment) seeking effective implementation of Animal Welfare Laws in J&K UT.

The court expressed deep anguish over the major deficiencies pointed out after a spot visit of the Gowshala at Seri Khurd, Nagrota by Commissioner Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) along with Joint Commissioner (H&S), Animal Welfare Officer and Incharge Cattle Pound (Veterinary Assistant Surgeon), the Chief Justice after going through a status report filed by commissioner JMC orally in the open court observed that in case the deficiencies pointed out are not rectified before the next date of hearing by the outsourcing agency i.e. Gowraksha Samiti headed by Raj Kumar then this Court shall be compelled to terminate the contract in the interest of voiceless cattle.

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When the PIL filed by NGO “SAVE” through its Chairperson Devender Kour Madaan came up for hearing, Advocate SS Ahmed with Advocates Supriya Chouhan, M. Zulkarnain Chowdhary, and Sayed Majid Shah, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that pursuant to order dated 20 November 2024 passed by the Division Bench, the Commissioner JMC Dr. Devansh Yadav alongwith a team of officers inspected the cattle pound on 4 December 2024 and inspected all the shelter sheds, premises of the cattle oound, fodder store and site office to ascertain the factual position on the spot with respect to the discrepancies noticed by the Court Commissioner and the shortcomings noted by the Incharge Veterinary Assistant Surgeon Cattle Pound time to time.

Advocate Ahmed further submitted that Commissioner JMC, in his status report based on the inspection of the cattle pound, observed that the outsourced agency has miserably failed to ensure segregation of animals. The boards and flexes displaying the categories of the animals inside the sheds were not found in some sheds.

The report further pointed out that the cattle were not provided a balance ration as no wheat bran, salt blocks, silage have been found in the food manger and the vaccination of the animals has not been done and there is no arrangement for horses viz shelter and separate feed. The status report further says that commissioner JMC issued a slew of directions to the outsource agency as well as to the Incharge Cattle Pound which included immediate segregation of the animals in separate sheds and for providing nutritious diet to the cattle. The outsourced agency was directed to properly maintain the death record of the animals and also keep sufficient stock of the emergency medicines. The Paravet of the JMC was directed to maintain the treatment record of each animal separately by pasting the photograph along with Tag number of the animal on the register.

The advocate further submitted that the outsource agency was selected by JMC without any tendering and is not fit to maintain the Gowshala properly and vociferously argued that the Gowshala should be entrusted to the best NGO after competitive bidding as the outsourced agency of JMC has already been issued three show cause Notices for several deficiencies in its working. Advocate Muneesh Sharma, appearing on behalf of the outsourced agency, assured the division bench that the deficiencies pointed out by the commissioner JMC after spot inspection would be removed within ten days and the response will also be filed to the report of the commissioner JMC.

After hearing both the sides, the bench granted a week’s time to Advocate Muneesh Sharma to come up with the latest action taken report as well as response to the Report of Commissioner JMC and in the event of failure to do the needful, the division bench directed that incharge of the outsourced agency Raj Kumar shall appear in person before the Court on the next date of hearing. Looking into the importance of the matter, the Division Bench directed the Registry to re-notify the PIL on 2 January 2025.