chennai charlie the oneyearold spitz mongrel was 17 days old when he was rescued by manjula ganesan from an abandoned litter in gerugambakkam chennai last christmas eve he soldiered through a rough first week before revealing his playful self much to the relief of his rescuers in the coming months charlie brought comfort and cheer to two adoptive families before he succumbed to jaundice at a boarding centre in madipakkam last month the centre run by dr r ramesh whos also employed as an assistant professor at madras veterinary college has come under flak several times for its poor boarding practices sanitation and medical negligence that activists involved in charlies case allege has led to his deathhe weighed 14kg when we gave him up for adoption he had fallen to 8kg when we found him at the centre the day he passed away says manjulathis is not the first time a boarding centre has been pulled up for violations in 2019 a boarding centre in tambaram sanatorium was booked for negligence and cruelty after city entrepreneur shirish deol and his wife allegedly recovered their shih tzu from the facility in a bloodied state eight days after he was boarded but even after cases are booked and complaints raised with the concerned authorities what typically ensues is at best a lukewarm response from police and government departments created for the cause instead of a detailed investigation followed by strict action what we see is weeks of mudslinging by both parties on social media while animal after animal loses its life to a corrupt systemfollowing charlies case t s jawahar additional secretary state animal husbandry says the doctor has been transferred to madhavaram after an enquiry that took place under the director of clinics tamil nadu veterinary and animal sciences university tanuvas but a senior official from tanuvas says theres nothing more the university can do what a doctor does at his private clinic doesnt come under our purview he saysdr ramesh on his part has denied all allegations he says he informed the dogs owners of his failing health and was treating him when he was taken away for now its his word against the complainants but the state animal welfare board which received the complaint along with the animal welfare board of india awbi and tanuvas hasnt initiated any enquiry or further actionthe tamil nadu animal welfare board tnawb the sole state authority responsible for executing the guidelines of the awbi to ensure best practices hasnt been constituted since the new government took over in may and functions under the animal husbandry and veterinary science departmentjawahar says the tnawb is under reconstitution and the government order for the same is under process we expect to publish in the government gazette within a couple of weeksbut at present there is no regulation for boarding shelter or veterinary clinics animal activist shravan krishnan who also helps run the besant memorial animal dispensary and the hotel for dogs says there are hundreds