A division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice P R Bora said, “Tell us after two weeks what you (state) have done, after that we will issue further directions. We are sure until we do that, no progress will be made.”
The Bombay High Court has said it will monitor the progress to formulate a rehabilitation policy being worked upon by the State government, or else it would never be completed.
A division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice P R Bora said, “Tell us after two weeks what you (state) have done, after that we will issue further directions. We are sure until we do that, no progress will be made.”
The court made this observation while hearing a public interest litigation filed by NGO Animals and Birds Charitable Trust, based on which in 2015, the government was told to phase out the Victoria carts and come out with a rehabilitation policy for the owners and horses, within six months. However, the petitioners claimed before the court on Wednesday that no progress was made till now.
Government pleader Milind More said, “The government is working on a comprehensive policy for the owners and horses. A total of 221 owners have been identified by the government.” He sought six weeks time to place on record the further progress.
The advocate representing 52 Victoria owners complained to the court that they were being harassed by the authorities. To this the bench said, “We see everyday that a number of Victoria carts are running at Nariman point and the horses are in a really bad shape.”
The NGO had in 2011 moved public interest litigation before the HC, seeking proper implementation of regulations and timings allotted for plying of Victoria carts in the city and for banning them because their operations amounted to cruelty to the horses. The NGO also argued that several horses and passengers had been injured in road accidents.
The high court had then banned the ferrying of Mumbai's iconic Victoria carts declaring the business to be completely illegal. As per statistics submitted by the authorities before the court then, there were around 158 horses harnessed to Victorias and ten stables where horses are kept, while 130 Victoria’s ply on busy roads such as Nariman Point, Colaba and in the suburbs. They provide livelihood to
around 700 families.
The court, while imposing the ban, took into consideration the stand taken by the Mumbai Traffic police, which had objected to the horses plying on concrete and tar surfaces. The Traffic police contended that the hard roads would hurt the horses, whose hooves were studded with nails.
Further it had said that Victorias were not a public conveyance within the meaning of the Public Conveyance Act and therefore could not be used as joy rides. It was not advisable for Victorias to continue to operate in view of the increase in the number of vehicles on city roads.
The BMC also after a survey carried out by them had indicated that that none of the stables were licensed as per law. Moreover, experts who visited the stables found them to be in unhygienic condition and lacking basic facilities for animal housing.
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