New Delhi: Bye-laws of resident associations that bar people from keeping pets, and deny pet-owners access to elevators and common facilities in apartment buildings, are “illegal, unconstitutional and unenforceable”, the Kerala High Court said Tuesday.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed in July by Thiruvananthapuram-based NGO ‘People for Animals’, represented by its secretary, Karthika Anayara. He had alleged that the office-bearers of the resident association where he resides had asked apartment owners to remove pets from the premises, citing bye-laws of the association.
Reiterating the right of citizens to keep pets, a bench comprising Justices A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Gopinath P. said, “Our coastal state, that announces itself to be ‘God’s Own Country’ to visitors who come calling to its shores, cannot be seen denying just privileges to its animal inhabitants.”
The court, however, clarified that the “freedoms recognised in animals, and the co-relational right recognised in pet owners” are not absolute or unconditional. It asserted that resident associations can still frame reasonable conditions that must be adhered to by owners and residents of apartments while keeping pets.
It ruled, “We allow this writ petition by declaring that clauses in any bye-law or agreement, that have the effect of absolutely prohibiting a person from keeping a pet of his/her choice in a residential unit occupied by that person, should be treated as void and unenforceable in law.”
The court further added that “resident owners’ associations and resident welfare associations shall desist from putting up notice boards and signposts prohibiting the keeping or entry of pets in their respective premises”.
The bench also directed the state government to take immediate steps and issue necessary instructions to the State Animal Welfare Board and law enforcement agencies to ensure that complaints filed by the citizens against violation of the court’s judgment can promptly be looked into.
In response to the NGO’s petition, the Kerala government had filed a statement in court asserting that it does not consider such stipulations in bye-laws justified. It asserted this violates the fundamental rights of the occupants of the apartments to keep pets of their choice, as recognised by the Supreme Court.
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‘Retrograde trajectory’ of animal right rulings in India
The court began its judgment by tracing the “trajectory of animal rights jurisprudence in India” and said it has “sadly been a retrograde one”.
“Over the years we have virtually moved from an eco-centric worldview where animals, like humans were seen as living beings containing a life force and therefore morally worthy, to an anthropocentric one where humans alone are seen as morally worthy and privileged to enjoy the bounties that nature has to offer,” it observed.
The court then cited a research paper and noted how religions such as Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam have spoken about treating animals with respect.
It went on to refer to the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Jallikattu case and noted that the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 recognises five freedoms inherent in all animals: freedom from hunger, thirst and malnutrition; freedom from fear and distress; freedom from physical and thermal discomfort; freedom from pain, injury and disease; and freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour.
While noting that the 1960 Act does carve out exceptions to these freedoms, it observed that “the duty cast on the citizenry to respect the five freedoms recognised in animals is of sufficiently wide ambit as to require them to refrain from interfering with another person’s right to keep a pet of his choice”.
The court further referred to another judgment passed by a division bench of the Kerala High Court, to highlight “the citizens’ choice to rear pets as traceable to their fundamental right to privacy under Article 21 of our Constitution”.
(Edited by Paramita Ghosh)
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