Read Time: 04 minutes
Court asked the petitioner to first approach the government authorities with the grievance instead of directly filing a plea before the court
The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea to ban or cancel the licence to keep 'dangerous' dog breeds such as pit bulls, terriers, American bulldogs, rottweilers etc.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula asked the petitioner to first approach the government authorities with the grievance instead of directly filing a plea before the court.
“Before filing, you make a representation to the government that this is my grievance but you have come straight to the court. You have to make a representation first”, the court said. It also said, “This is a wrong trend in PILs. This is a policy decision”, said the court.
The petitioner, Legal Attorneys and Barristers Law Firm highlighted many incidents of such dog breeds attacking people including owners. It alleged that breeds like bulldogs, rottweilers, pit bulls, terriers, Neapolitan Mastiffs etc are 'dangerous dogs' and are banned in more than 12 countries including India, but the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was still registering them to be kept as pets.
The plea stated that it is the duty of the Centre and the State government to act as the welfare state and to take pre-emptive action to save the lives of the citizens from the risk of any major dog bite incident by these 'dangerous dogs'.
"lt is the need of the hour to ban and cancel the license to keep such dogs as Pitbull, Terriers, American bulldog, Rottweiler, Japanese Tosa, Bandog, Neapolitan Mastiff, Wolf Dog, Boerboel, Presa Canario, Fila Brasileiro, Tosa Inu, Cane Corso, Dogo Argentino and cross breeds of above mentioned dogs”, the plea read.
Case Title: The Legal Attorneys and Barristers Law Firm v. Union of India & Ors.
Please Login or Register
