The Bombay high court on Monday ruled that horse-drawn carriages -locally called `Victorias' -used for joyride along the seaside were “illegal“, and set a June 2016 deadline to phase them out.
Hearing a PIL filed by Animals and Birds Charitable Trust, an NGO, a bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Anil Menon ordered the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC) to shut down stables housing the horses and ponies in the city within a year. “The activity of running Victorias driven by horses in Mumbai for joyride is completely illegal and is required to be stopped,“ said the judges, adding it also amounted to violating the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. “The activity of horse-driven carriages only for joyrides solely for human pleasure is an avoidable human activity,“ they said.
The court's decision to ban the carriages, which now ply only on Marine Drive, Nariman Point and Gateway of India, was also based on existing licensing rules, the fact that they are a safety risk and a traffic hazard on crowded Mumbai roads. While such carriages can operate in other cities when used for public conveyance, the HC asked the state to taken action whenever they are used for joyrides. The authorities have also been asked to act against those treating the horses cruelly .
At the same time, the court has asked the state government to frame a plan for the rehabilitation of the carriage owners --Victorias are a source of livelihood to about 700 families -and the horses.
Victorias have been a feature on Mumbai streets for decades. In 1973, when the government brought in a new rule to deny renewal of licenses for the horse-driven carriages, there were around 800 Victorias in the city. By 2011, when the PIL was filed seeking a ban, there were around 130 left.
The Victorias were given licences un der a 1920 law for being used as a public conveyance. The HC said the Victorias were not presently plying for either con veyance of passengers or goods and their use was limited to joyrides.
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