AFTER widespread protests across thecountry followinga top court verdict on relocation of stray dogs in Delhi-NCR, a new three-judge bench of the SupremeCourt will hear the suo motu case on Thursday. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria will hear the matter. The directions to permanentlyrelocate allstrays from streets to shelters “at the earliest”werepassedbyabenchcomprising Justice JBPardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan on August 11.

 

When some petitioners in another stray dogs-related case mentioned theirpleawhilereferring to the August 11 verdict before the Chief Justice of India BRGavai, he said he “will look into it”. On August 11, a bench of Justices Pardiwala and Mahadevan observed instances of dog bites had given rise to an “extremely grim” situation and ordered the permanent relocation of all strays in Delhi-NCR “at the earliest”.

 

On Wednesday, the lawyerreferred to a May 2024 orderpassed by a bench led by JusticeJKMaheshwari relegating petitions relating to the stray dogissue to respective High Courts. The plea by Conference forHumanRights (India)claims theAnimalBirthControl (Dog)Rules, 2001 mandating regular sterilisation and immunisation programmes for stray dogs to curtail their growing population arenot being complied with. InitsAugust11ruling, theapexcourt also said dog shelters will have to be augmented over timeanddirectedDelhi authorities tocreate shelters for around 5,000canines within 6 to 8 weeks.