Mumbai: Thane’s Hawaiian Village housing society which imposed fines worth Rs 14 lakh on one of its members for walking dogs in the society’s premises, withdrew all the fines and also announced to release a rulebook for mutual cooperation in the society. The dispute was brought to an end after the member also agreed to withdraw all legal actions against the society’s managing committee.
On May 29, The Free Press Journal was the first to report that Subajit Bhattacharya, who runs a shelter for paraplegic dogs in his residence bungalow in the Hawaiian Village society in Thane’s Ghodbunder Road, was served the monthly maintenance bills with a variety of fines imposed on him.
The fines were against walking his dogs in the society’s common entrance area, failure to submit vaccination certificates and alleged unhygienic cooking practices. In two months, he was fined Rs 14.12 lakhs by the society.
Bhattacharya had denied paying the fine amount and had even served a legal notice, through Pure Animal Lovers (PAL) Foundation and legal advisor Purva Basrur, to the society’s managing committee on June 6 warning that he will proceed with legal action and claim compensatory damages for harassment and mental agony if the fines are not scrapped.
After the society’s chairman and secretary stepped down, the new committee decided to withdraw all the fines imposed against the activist and even announced to issue a rulebook to ensure mutual respect, order and cooperation in the society.
At the special general meeting held by the society on June 28, it was mutually decided by the managing committee and Bhattacharya that all the dog-related charges billed to the activist would be revoked and he would withdraw all legal proceedings against the society. The society also mentioned that all the disputed amounts shall be waived promptly within six weeks from the date of the meeting.
Talking to The Free Press Journal, Bhattacharya said, “The new committee had a clear stance of not institutionalising the entire matter on behest of one person and didn't want to continue this unwanted conflict. They were sympathetic to the harassment we had to bear on the behest of the previous office-bearing member who was misusing his power of authority and was involved in several types of reported physical and mental harassment.”
Captain Rath, secretary of the society, said that it was a personal fight between Bhattacharya and the members of the managing committee. “Both the parties were neighbours and it is normal to have differences of opinions between neighbours. However, there is no such issue with the new managing committee. We are also forming new mechanisms to be followed by the society so that everyone lives in harmony.”
Roshan Pathak, animal rights advisor with PAL Foundation, said, “There is no law that allows a society to impose fines on any animal lover or animals, and a society cannot create regulations that annoy a feeder if it attempts to enforce rules that are invalid everywhere. We request all societies to abide by the ABC and AWBI rules, strive toward mutual understanding with animal lovers by establishing appropriate guidelines instead of harassing them.”
