SC Denies Exemption to Bihar Chief Secretary from Appearing on Nov 3
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to accept the Bihar government’s plea that its chief secretary be exempted from appearing before it on November 3 in the stray dogs case in view of the assembly elections in the state.
“The Election Commission will handle this. Don’t worry. Let the chief secretary come,” a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta told the lawyer appearing on behalf of Bihar.
Assembly elections in Bihar will be held on November 6 and 11 and votes will be counted on November 14.
The apex court, while hearing the stray dogs issue on October 27, had directed the chief secretaries of all states except West Bengal and Telangana to appear before it on November 3 to explain why compliance affidavits were not submitted despite the court’s order on August 22.
On Thursday, Bihar’s lawyer raised the issue before the bench.
“His lordship has instructed all the principal secretaries in default to remain there personally on November 3. There is an election in the state of Bihar,” the lawyer said.
The bench said the chief secretary need not do anything in the state elections.
When the state’s attorney said another secretary could be directed to appear before the court, the bench said, “No. Let the other secretaries do their work there.”
On October 27, the high court had criticized the states and union territories for not submitting declarations of compliance on stray dogs and said that incidents were constantly occurring and the country was being shown “inferior” by foreign countries.
It had noted that except West Bengal, Telangana and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), none of the other states and UTs had submitted their compliance declarations.
“In view of non-responsiveness of most of the states and union territories, the principal secretaries of all states and union territories except the states of West Bengal and Telangana shall appear before this court at 10.30 am on 3 November 2025 with their respective explanations as to why declarations of compliance have not been submitted,” the bench said. he said.
The top court was hearing a suo motu case regarding stray dogs.
On August 22, the apex court expanded the scope of the stray dogs case beyond the limits of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and ordered all states and UTs to become parties in the matter.
It had directed the municipal authorities to submit a declaration of compliance with full statistics of resources such as dog shelters, veterinarians, dog-catching personnel and specially modified vehicles and cages available at the time, for the purpose of compliance with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules.
The bench had also involved the states and UTs in the matter, observing that the ABC Rules were applied uniformly all over India.
The suo motu case was initiated on July 28 following a media report in the national capital that stray dog bites were causing rabies, especially among children.
