SUMMARY
- The Supreme Court has ordered Delhi-NCR authorities to collect all stray dogs within two months and place them in shelters.
- Authorities must maintain daily records, create shelters for 5,000 dogs, and deploy staff for sterilization and vaccination.
- A helpline for reporting dog bite incidents must be operational within one week, with strict action against obstruction of rescues.
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered Delhi-NCR authorities and civic agencies to start collecting strays from all localities within the next two months and placing them in dog shelters, calling the city’s stray dog problem “extremely grim.”
The top court issued a number of orders to reduce dog bite incidents and issued a warning that any individual or group that prevents the authorities from rescuing stray dogs will face severe consequences.
According to the court, stray dogs must be housed in shelters and not put back on the streets, in colonies, or in public areas. The bench also mandated that a daily log of stray dogs that have been apprehended and held be maintained.
The court bench stated, “NCT Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, MCD, NMDC shall start picking up stray dogs from all localities, particularly from more vulnerable localities. It is for the authorities to look into and if they have to create a force, do it at the earliest. However, this should be the first and foremost exercise to make all localities free of stray dogs. There should not be any compromise in undertaking the exercise. The authorities concerned, more particularly the government of NCT Delhi, are directed to put detailed information about the place where such vacancies are available, the stock of vacancies and the number of persons who report for treatment every month.”
According to a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, enough staff should be sent to sterilize and vaccinate the dogs, and dog shelters should be established to house about 5,000 stray canines.
In order to guarantee that all dog bite incidents be reported right away, the bench also ordered the establishment of a helpline within a week.
