New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday, August 21, declined to urgently list a plea challenging a circular said to have been issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for picking up stray dogs across the capital, as per a report by Live Law.
The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi, which refused the request citing that a larger bench had already reserved orders in the ongoing stray dog case.
Court Proceedings
When the counsel clarified that the new application was connected to another case listed alongside the writ petition on stray dogs, Justice Maheshwari responded, “in reserved cases, we can’t…”. The bench therefore declined to interfere, adding that the three-judge bench led by Justice Vikram Nath is already seized of the larger issue.
On August 14, Justice Nath’s bench reserved orders on pleas seeking to stay the earlier directions of a two-judge bench which had ordered the immediate removal of stray dogs from Delhi-NCR. That directive, delivered on August 11, had directed authorities to round up 5,000 dogs within six to eight weeks and bar them from returning to streets or public spaces.
During the August 14 hearing, Justice Nath had questioned whether authorities had already begun picking up dogs before the order was even uploaded. Petitioners confirmed this had taken place. Expressing concern, the judge remarked, “Local authorities are not doing what they should be doing. They should be here taking responsibility. Everyone who has come here to file intervention should take responsibility.”
Background Of the Controversy
The August 11 order by Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan instructed immediate creation of shelters and mandated sterilisation, deworming and immunisation of all captured dogs under the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023. The ruling sparked street protests, political backlash and strong opposition from animal rights groups, with PETA India calling the directive “impractical, illogical, and illegal.”
The MCD has since reported picking up over 100 strays, converting 20 Animal Birth Control centres into shelters, and earmarking an 85-acre site at Ghoga Dairy for larger facilities.
The Court is expected to deliver its order in the coming days, which will decide the fate of stray dogs in Delhi-NCR.
