Give suggestions on composition of state animal welfare board: HC to Kerala govt

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday asked the LDF government to give its suggestions with regard to the composition of an animal welfare board for the state, while observing that it was ”sceptical” about a retired judge heading such a body.

A bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and P Gopinath asked the state government to go through the suggestions received from the Animal Welfare Board of India and those collected by the court appointed amicus curiae and thereafter, give its recommendations.

The court was hearing a PIL initiated by it on its own in the wake of the recent gruesome killing of a dog named Bruno which was tied up and beaten to death by some people on the Adimalathura beach on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram.

It had directed that the case be renamed as ”In Re: Bruno as a fitting tribute to the hapless dog that succumbed to acts of human cruelty.” The bench had earlier asked the amicus curiae appointed by it to collect suggestions from all stakeholders with regard to the composition of the to be re-constituted state animal welfare board and to place it before the court.

The court had, earlier, issued several directions in the matter like reconstituting the state animal welfare board, registration of pets with local bodies and obtaining a licenceand removal of posters by local authorities to keep pets chained or caged at all times.