HC nod for events at Delhi Race Club

The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed the Delhi Race Club to hold its events after noting that none of the horses stabled there were suffering from the fatal glanders disease and no animal carrying the infection has been culled in the city.

Equestrian events

Justice Rajiv Shakdher said equestrian events will be allowed after April 15, when a Delhi government notification preventing movement of horses to and from the Capital for three months will no longer apply. The court however said if any instance of glanders was found in and around New Delhi, the city government can approach it.

The Delhi Race Horses Owners’ Association had challenged the government’s February 13 communication to the race club to postpone or cancel the North India Derby, scheduled for February 27, as the Capital was declared as a controlled area.

The government’s January 15 notification had prohibited movement of horses to and from Delhi for three months.

The government told the court that while there was culling of an infected horse at Narela in west Delhi on March 22, the effect of the notification will not be extended to the New Delhi area after April 15 unless a fresh case of the disease is found there.

The government had earlier told the court that all the 422 horses stabled at the Delhi Race Club here were free of the fatal glanders disease.