Over the past many months, Jaagruti’s helpline has been inundated with calls and queries from people across many major Indian cities, like Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore and other metros where RWAs or Residential Welfare Associations that are formed in various societies have come up with ‘no pet clauses’ and are forcing residents therein to abandon their pets! This post is to apprise you all that ‘RWAs cannot come with such clauses which are both unconstitutional and unlawful.
Please click on the link below to download the notice that was sent to a society in Gurgaon sometime back by a team of well-respected lawyers. If you are facing a similar issue, then take guidance from the text mentioned therein and with the help of a competent advocate/law firm/your very own lawyer friends – get a similar notice drafted and get it sent across to the Office Bearers in your Housing Society. If they don’t get the point on reading your notice, drag them to the Consumer Courts. Remember that all those who have taken this step have won the case and so have their pets and dogs!
Click, Download and Read: Notice issued by respected law firm in Delhi to Kanchanjunga Coop.Group Housing Society in Gurgaon that was asking residents to abandon their pets
Also, read the below pasted Times of India article dated 24th May 2012 and spread it around!
Housing societies can’t prohibit pets, say legal eagles
By Journalist named Swati Deshpande
MUMBAI: Pet owners need not worry. Senior advocates say that housing societies cannot introduce by-laws to prohibit residents from keeping pets in their flats.The Maharashtra Cooperative Housing Societies Act does not prohibit members from keeping pets and no society can pass by-laws to ban pets or families with pets from society premises.
Mulraj Shah, a lawyer, says a cooperative housing society may-by majority vote- make a by-law against pet ownership, but that is only on the valid grounds of continuous nuisance created by such pets. Even such a resolution may not be binding on occupants as it would have to be tested for legality in court, said a constitutional law expert practising at Bombay high court.
In the past, courts have ruled in favour of pet owners. A housing society in Navi Mumbai was fined for having restrained a family pet from using the lift. The Thane consumer court in 2008 imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 and held that the society’s decision to prevent pets from using the lift without any valid reason amounted to “deficiency in service”. A family residing in a housing society is a “consumer” under the law.
In another important ruling in December 2010, a consumer forum in Mumbai Central ordered a housing society in Mahim to stop charging a family an additional Rs 500 for each of its pet dogs, which it said was illegal and directed that the amounts already collected be returned. Societies have a right to make rules for the benefit of its members but the law has to be reasonable and not impinge an individual’s fundamental freedoms and right to life, said lawyers.
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Hi,
i have a pet dog in my house in Goa Miramar and my society has passed a law saying no pets allowed. So don’t you think it is kinda going against my personal freedom?? i wanted to know what i can do to keep my pet with me .
Yes, its against your constitutional right to freedom, Pets are family as proclaimed by the Mumbai court rulings, use the same as a basis of slamming a notice against your society on this.
most dog lovers face this problem,people complaining about their dogs barking,I don’t understand what they expect from a dog,not to bark always stand n wag tails,I accept your pet should not attack any body,but not bark?we are concerned about our freedom of speech but their freedom of barking is considered nuisance
turn a deaf ear to such people, the dogs bark only to alert people around of an unscrupulous person/activity in the nearby surroundings…take our advice, let such people ‘bark’
in Gurgaon all the parks in residential area maintained by HUDA (huryana urban development authority) have written on entrance gate that It is prohibitted to walk the pet dogs inside this park. Where should I take my dog for a walk. He too needs walk on grass and open area to play.
Thats a difficult question to answer Sir. We understand it is a precarious situation for a pet owner/pet lover, but we take our dogs to parks which dont have such boards pasted at the entrance.