Stray dogs row: Supreme Court to deliver order today

The Supreme Court is set to pronounce on August 22 the order on a plea to stay its August 11 direction to permanently relocate stray dogs from streets to dog shelters in Delhi-NCR.

A three-judge special bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria had on August 14 reserved its order in the matter.

A two-judge bench of the apex court had on August 11 passed a slew of directions, including ordering the authorities in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) to start picking up stray dogs from all localities "at the earliest" and relocate the canines to dog shelters.

The bench passed the order in a suo motu case initiated on July 28 over a media report on stray dog bites leading to rabies, particularly among children, in the national capital.

Widespread protests were reported across the country following the apex court's August 11 order.

Later, the matter came up for hearing on August 14 before a three-judge special bench which said the "whole problem" of stray dogs in Delhi-NCR was a result of the "inaction" of local authorities which did "nothing" in implementing the Animal Birth Control Rules on sterilisation and immunisation of canines.

The special bench, which was constituted to hear the suo motu case and some other pleas concerning stray dogs, had reserved its verdict on the interim prayer for a stay on certain directions issued on August 11.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi government, had referred to data and said in 2024, India reported around 37.15 lakh dog bites cases -- nearly 10,000 per day.

Mehta had also referred to a media report and said the World Health Organisation, using government and other authentic sources, reported 305 dog-bite related deaths last year.

The lawyers appearing for several organisations had urged the special bench to stay some of the directions passed by the two-judge bench.

On August 11, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had directed the authorities in Delhi-NCR to start relocating all stray dogs from streets to shelters and asked the authorities to initially start by creating a shelter to house 5,000 dogs.

It had warned of strictest action against those who obstructed the exercise and directed immediate creation of dog shelters or pounds and report about it within eight weeks.