MUMBAI: Rat trap manufacturers, feeling stuck by notifications calling for a ban on glue boards, have petitioned Bombay high court to have them quashed.
The circulars, first issued in August 2011 and in November 2020 by Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), are “illegal and arbitrary” and have infringed their legal and various fundamental rights, the pest control companies have contended.
AWBI said glue traps are inhumane and contrary to provisions of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
The rodent control companies claim the use of glue traps in India provides a non-poisonous and pesticide-free solution to stem infestation. The 2011 circular was advisory in nature, they said, and the state govt did not issue any ban then. But in 2020, AWBI secretary issued a a letter to all states and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Delhi, to take steps to impose a ban on manufacture and import of glue traps, according to the petition filed by pest control companies. Last September, Glue Boards Manufacturers Association said it learned from news articles that a ban was imposed, but the petition filed in May and registered in July 2024 said no official circular has been made available.
It argued that no legal provision exists to segregate humane and non-humane ways to measure cruelty inflicted on rodents to justify a ban. They contend that as manufacturers of rat glue traps used widely to prevent health hazards caused by millions of rats that infest the country, the circulars are unlawfully issued.
Glue traps are “mandated in several industries”, says the petition, including the hotel and restaurant business, Indian Air Force, Indian Railways, and Indian Space, Information Technology and Research Organization, which regularly issue tenders for their purchase. The traps set out how to release the trapped rat with vegetable oil, said manufacturers from Goa, Mumbai, and four other pest control firms that filed the petition.