Stray Dog Row: Supreme Court Declines Urgent Listing of Plea Against MCD Notification

The Bench of Justice J K Maheshwari and Justice Vijay Bishnoi refused urgent listing after a lawyer mentioned the matter, noting that an application had already been filed.

The applicant argued that the MCD’s notification was issued despite the Apex Court reserving its order in the case.

On August 14, the Apex Court had reserved orders on an interim plea seeking to stay the August 11 directions to remove stray dogs. At that time, the Court had remarked that the “whole problem of stray dogs in Delhi-NCR is because of inaction of local authorities.” While raising concerns over the implementation of Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, and other legislations, Justice Vikram Nath led bench today asked the NGOs before it as to why they did not approach court for compliance earlier.

Earlier, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria was constituted to reconsider its earlier order on removal of all stray dogs from the Delhi NCR region. This was done after the Chief Justice of India agreed to look into the issue of stray dogs amid the court's recent order on their removal facing serious backlash.

Supreme Court on Monday, August 11 had ordered the removal of all stray dogs from the Delhi NCR region and their consequent relocation to dog shelters/compounds dedicated for them. Notably a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan has ordered that the strays shall not be released in the localities, even after sterilisation.

When the Court was informed about the possible intervention by animal rights activists by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the bench observed that it would initiate contempt against those persons if they try to interfere with the implementation of the directions passed by it. "All these animal activists and so-called lovers, will they be able to bring back all those children who have fallen prey to rabies? Let's take a practical view of the matter", the court said.

In July the Apex court had taken suo-moto cognizance of a very disturbing and alarming Newspaper cutting reported by the `Times of India’ in its Delhi edition titled “City Hounded By Strays, Kids Pay Price”. "Everyday, hundreds of dog bites are being reported in the city and the areas on the outskirts, leading to rabies and ultimately young infants, children and aged are falling prey to this dreadful disease. We are shocked to know that on an average 20,000 cases of dog bites are recorded in the country and out of which 2000 incidents happen in Delhi every day", the Bench had noted.

As per the Newspaper report amidst the rising threat of stray dog in the national capital, a 6 year old girl by name Chavi Sharma fell prey to multiple dog bites leaving deep wounds on her left leg, arm and palm. Although the inhabitants of the locality complained for several times to the authorities concerned, yet none paid heed to the complaints of the people residing in the said locality. Also, a four year old boy Abhishek Rai was attacked by a pack of stray dogs on 23-7-2025 in Delhi’s Alipur area of Narela when the child was returning from his Anganwadi School. The dogs pounced at his face repeatedly injuring him until few bystanders rushed to his rescue.

Taking suo motu cognizance of the issue, court had issued notice to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Also, Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, was directed to act as Amicus and assist the Court on this burning issue.

The August 11 directions were passed by another Bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, which had ordered authorities in Delhi-NCR to immediately begin picking up stray dogs from all localities and relocating them to dog shelters. The Court had also directed the creation of shelter homes within eight weeks and barred authorities from releasing the detained dogs back onto the streets, colonies or public places.

The suo motu proceedings were initiated on July 28 following a spate of dog-bite incidents, some fatal due to rabies, particularly involving children in the national capital region.