The High Court of Uttarakhand has directed the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority to construct a state of art Veterinary Hospital at Transport Nagar in Dehradun, within a period of two years or alternatively pay a sum of Rs 12.24 crore to the State for the construction of the said veterinary hospital in Dehradun.
The division bench of acting chief justice Rajiv Sharma and justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari issued these directions in a public interest litigation filed by animal rights activist Gauri Maulekhi.
According to the averments made in the petition, the Animal Husbandry Department had a District Veterinary Hospital at Dispensary Road in the heart of Dehradun city. The
Hospital was constructed in 1890 on 16 Bighas of land. Two hundred animals were treated per day. The MDDAhad demolished the hospital in the year 2008. Thereafter, in February 2008, an important decision was taken in the MDDA board meeting whereby it was agreed to allot one acre of land and approximately Rs 3crore was sanctioned for the construction of new building of veterinary hospital, Sadar and the VeterinaryHospital. These averments have been made by the Dehradun District Magistrate, Dehradun in his counter affidavit filed in an earlier petition.
In the present petition, the respondent number one -State has also filed the counter affidavit.
According to the averments made in the counter affidavit, the MDDA had made a commitment to provide Rs 3crore or to construct the state of art veterinary hospital at the new rehabilitated site.
However, the cost of the construction has escalated and now a sum of Rs.12.24 crore is required for the construction of a new hospital.
According to the affidavit, the MDDA should either construct the hospital on the newly rehabilitated site at Transport Nagar and if the construction is not possible, then it should release the amount in favour of the State.
The animals do need a state of art veterinary hospital. The existing veterinary hospital was demolished in the year 2008 to make room for a commercial complex built by the MDDA. The hospital is now being run in only four shops.