Supreme Court hearing on stray dogs: SC reserves order seeking stay on Aug 11 order, raps local authorities
The Supreme Court three-judge bench was hearing the Delhi stray dog matter today. The case has been shifted from the two-judge bench which passed directions on August 11 to relocate the dogs to shelters.
The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on the interim plea seeking a stay of the suo motu order in a matter related to stray dogs in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). A three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N V Anjaria is hearing the matter. The apex court directed all the interveners to file affidavits along with affidavits and evidence.
The bench remarked that on one side, there is human suffering, and on the other side, there are animal lovers.
The Supreme Court said that the whole problem is because of the inaction of local authorities."The local authorities are not doing what they should do. They should take responsibility here. Every person who has come here to register an intervention should take responsibility," the sourt said.
Hearing on stray dogs case: What did Delhi govt say?
The Delhi government told the Supreme Court that children are dying due to dog bites causing rabies, and the issue of stray dogs needs to be resolved and not to be contested.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi government, told a three-judge bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath that there were over 37 lakh reported dog bites in a year in the country. "People and animal lovers feed non-vegetarian food to stray dogs. Dogs are violent too. Children have died due to rabies caused by their bites. 37 lakh people die every year and ten thousand people die due to dog bites every day. 305 people have died in a year," Mehta said.
"Nobody is an animal hater," Mehta told the bench, also comprising Justices Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria. "We are not in favour of killing them. We want to keep them away from human settlements so that the roads can be kept safe for children and the elderly," he added.
Meanwhile, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for an NGO which looks after dogs, said the situation was "very serious" and the matter needed to be argued in depth. Sibal sought a stay on some of the directions passed by the apex court on August 11, including the directions to the authorities in Delhi-NCR to start picking up stray dogs from all localities "at the earliest" and relocate the animals to dog shelters.
"First time I have heard a Solicitor say that there is a legislation in place and it is an occupied field but don't look at it. Parliamentary legislation and ABC rules have to be complied with. What has the municipal corporation done for so many years have they built shelter homes have they will sterilized? There is money but it gets siphoned. You can't pass an order like this Suo Moto without any notice. This is a serious issue, it needs to be heard. Kindly stay the order. The arrangements to be made after picking up the dogs require time and infrastructure. All this is not there," said Sibal.
He further said that the court should stay this order. "Governments and authorities should be asked to make arrangements for sterilization, vaccination and where to leave them after that. Instead of the Solicitor General's argument that people in the society feed and keep these stray dogs roaming on the streets," he added.
Supreme Court orders to keep all stray dogs in shelter homes
On August 11, a two-judge bench of the apex court had directed the authorities to immediately create dog shelters or pounds and report to it about the creation of such infrastructure within eight weeks. "Adequate staff, sterilization, deworming, vaccination, and CCTV surveillance will be mandatory in all shelters/pounds and a separate facility will be kept for weak and sick dogs," the Supreme Court said.
The bench further ordered that none of the captured dogs be released back onto the streets and warned that contempt proceedings would be initiated against anyone obstructing the dog-catching drive. The apex court had passed a slew of directions on August 11 while hearing a suo motu case initiated on July 28 over stray dog bites leading to rabies, particularly among children, in the national capital.
Justice Pardiwala said, "If any individual or any organisation comes in the way of such force picking up stray dogs and rounding them up, and if it is reported to us, we shall proceed to take strict action against any such resistance which may be offered." The bench further remarked if the animal activists and "so-called lovers" would be able to bring back children who fell prey to rabies. "Will they put life back to those children? When situation demands, you have to act," it noted.
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