Chief Secretaries of states, UTs appear before SC in stray dogs menace case

New Delhi [India], November 3 : The Chief Secretaries of states and Union Territories appeared before the Supreme Court in compliance with its earlier order and tendered an unconditional apology for not filing a compliance affidavit on the issue of the menace of stray dog bites.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria said it will be issuing directions regulating the feeding of dogs in the premises of government buildings.
"We will issue an order in a few days regarding government institutions, where employees are supporting and encouraging dogs in that area," said the bench.
Justice Nath said that it will also hear victims of dog bites and posted the matter on November 7.
The bench noted the presence of the Chief Secretaries of the states and Union Territories, who were asked to appear before it for their failure in filing affidavits showing compliance with the Animal Birth Control Rules.
It noted that compliance affidavits have been filed by the states and dispensed with the personal presence of the Chief Secretaries on the next dates.
The apex court on October 27 ordered the personal presence of Chief Secretaries of all the states and Union Territories except Telangana and West Bengal for November 3 for not filing an affidavit in compliance with the court's direction.
It had noted that only MCD of Delhi, West Bengal and Telangana have filed affidavits and directed that, except for these two states, Chief Secretaries of all states and Union Territories have to be present before the court at 10.30 am along with an explanation as to why compliance affidavits have not been filed.
"Continuous incidents are happening, and the image of the country is being shown as down in the eyes of foreign nations. We are also reading news reports," Justice Nath had said.
On August 22, the top court had directed the states and UTs to file the compliance affidavits.
The apex court had taken suo moto cognisance of the menace of stray dogs across the country.
A three-judge bench on August 22 had modified a two-judge bench's August 11 order, which had directed the rounding up of all stray dogs in the Delhi-NCR and prohibited their release from dog shelters.
The August 22 order had said that now the stray dogs will be released back to the same area after sterilisation and immunisation, except those dogs which are infected with rabies or are exhibiting aggressive behaviour.
It had also restricted public feeding of stray dogs and directed the MCD to create dedicated feeding spaces in each municipal ward.
It further ordered that persons found feeding the dogs in contravention of its direction shall be liable to be proceeded with under the relevant framework.
The apex court had also expanded the scope of the proceedings on the menace of stray dogs and impleaded all states and Union Territories as parties to the case. The August 11 order was limited to the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) area only.
The three-judge bench order had come on pleas seeking a stay of the two-judge bench's August 11 order to remove all stray dogs from the localities in the Delhi-NCR region and put them in shelter homes.
On August 11, the top court ordered that all localities in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad should be made free of stray dogs and there should not be any compromise, and also made it clear that no captured animal will be released back on the streets.
In the detailed order it has clarified that its directive was not driven by "momentary impulse"; rather, it came after thorough and careful deliberation, and the concerned authorities have consistently failed for over two decades to effectively address a serious issue that directly impacts public safety.
A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and R Madadev had said that it has decided to take the matter into its hands because of the systematic failure of the authorities over the past two decades to address an issue that strikes at the heart of public safety.
It had said that the directions given by it, as a court which functions for the welfare of the people, are both in the interest of humans as well as dogs, and "this is not personal".
It had noted that as per the data available on the website of the Press Information Bureau, there were 37,15,713 reported dog bites in the country, and in Delhi alone, there were 25,201 dog bites.