SC to Hear Stray Dogs Case on November 3
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case on stray dogs on November 3, before which it has directed the chief secretaries of all states and Union Territories except West Bengal and Telangana to be present. The apex court, while hearing the matter on October 27, had ordered the chief secretaries to appear before it on November 3 to explain why compliance statements were not submitted despite the court’s order on August 22.
On August 22, the apex court asked states and UTs about the steps taken to comply with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules.
The matter is scheduled to come up for hearing before a three-judge special bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria on Monday.
On October 31, the apex court rejected the exemption of chief secretaries of states and UTs from appearing physically before it on November 3, saying the court’s order was “not respected”.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta touched on the issue and appealed to the bench to allow chief secretaries to appear before the court virtually.
The bench expressed displeasure over non-compliance with the August 22 order and observed that as of October 27, declarations of compliance have not been submitted by states and UTs except West Bengal, Telangana and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
It was made clear that the principal secretaries had to appear in court and explain why no declaration of compliance had been filed by them.
When the matter came up for hearing on October 27, the bench had said that compliance declarations were submitted only by West Bengal, Telangana and MCD.
On October 27, the apex court had harshly criticized states and UTs for not submitting compliance declarations on the issue and said that incidents were constantly taking place and the country was being “portrayed as inferior” by foreign countries.
The apex court had earlier 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.
In order to comply with the ABC Rules, it had instructed municipal authorities to submit declarations of compliance with full statistics of resources such as dog shelters, veterinarians, dog-catching personnel and specially modified vehicles and cages.
The bench had also involved the states and UTs in the matter, observing that the ABC Rules were applied uniformly all over India.
The apex court is hearing the suo motu case initiated on July 28 over a media report that stray dog bites in the national capital were causing rabies, especially among children.
