Don't Make Dogs Pay for Human Inefficiency

ON August 11, a Supreme Court bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan passed an order on their suo motu cognisance of the stray dog issue in the capital, and directed the administrations of the National Capital Territory of Delhi to pick up strays from all localities and never release them back into public spaces.

- NANDITHA KRISHNA

How to undertake this massive task was their problem, even creating a force if necessary. Enough shelters had to be established to house at least 5,000 stray dogs in the first eight weeks. The pounds had to be staffed well, the dogs dewormed, sterilised and immunised, and the shelters monitored with CCTVs to ensure that no dogs were let out.

The honourable justices contravened the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, which prohibit relocation of dogs from their original location. Yet, the bench said it would not be stopped by the proscription, a surprising statement from a judge of the highest court. Nor did it permit interventions by animal welfare organisations, thereby preventing the citizen's right to be heard.

The ruling has opened a Pandora's box. The Rajasthan High Court has ordered the removal of all stray dogs, cattle and other animals from public places statewide. The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has said it would direct the Tamil Nadu government to control stray cattle and dogs on the roads. Tamil Nadu minister K N Nehru added that his government would remove all stray dogs in the state. Puducherry has started rounding up and removing dogs. When people there fought for the dogs, those reporting them took sides. Finally, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court reopened the case and reserved its order on an interim petition seeking a stay on the two-judge bench's order.