AHMEDABAD:A consumer court has ordered Surendranagar municipality to pay Rs 2,000 as compensation to a lawyer who was bitten by a dog. The court thought it fit to order compensation for sheer neglect on part of the civic body to the problem.

Besides ordering compensation, the court has directed the civic body to capture dogs from all the places where instances of dog bites have been reported in the municipality limits.

The case involves an advocate Amitkumar Parmar, who suffered a dog bite on August 30, 2014 in Surendranagar. He immediately made an application to the civic authorities to catch canines from the area and made representations later to the chief officer as well as the district collector. When he saw no action on part of the civic body, he issued a legal notice citing section 133 of the CrPC and the Gujarat Municipalities Act reminding the authorities that maintaining public health and safety is their duty and that they are responsible to remove such nuisance from public street.

When the administration remained unmoved, Parmar approached the Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum of Surendranagar district and demanded compensation for the loss of income for 15 days when he could not attend court following the dog bite.

Upon court notice, the chief officer did not reply. The court said that the municipality always neglects the issue of safety of people and a judicial notice can be taken in this regard. “There are always grievances against the municipality with regard to stray and rabid dogs, stray cattle and unauthorized encroachment, which cause problems for citizens. The municipality remains negligent about this. This complaint is a fine example of negligence on how an organization like the municipality remains negligent even if it is requested, notified and even faced with a legal notice and finally the consumer has to approach the forum. The municipality’s chief officer does not even bother to reply to the notice,” the order reads.

