Stray Dogs case| Supreme Court directs Chief Secretaries' presence on Nov 3

The Supreme Court today expressed its displeasure over the unresponsiveness of the states and union territories in the case pertaining to stray dogs. Noting that compliance affidavits had not been filed by the states, a Justice Vikram Nath led bench has today directed the Chief Secretaries of all states to be present before it on November 3rd with an explanation.

"Only three compliance affidavits are filed but not on record. Notices was issued to all states and UTs. Let all be present before this court on 10:30 am next Monday along with explanation as to why no affidavit filed and no representation here", the bench has said.

In its previous order, the court had directed the impleadment of all States and Union Territories in the instant matter through the Secretaries concerned of the Animal Husbandry Department, Secretaries of the local bodies (Municipal Corporation, Municipal Councils, Municipalities, etc.) and the Administrators of the Union Territories so as to seek information from each authority regarding the steps being taken for compliance of the ABC Rules in their respective jurisdictions.

Notably, Supreme Court on August 22nd had also partly stayed its recent order directing relocation of dogs from all localities of Delhi, Ghaziabad, NOIDA, Faridabad, Gurugram as well as areas on the outskirts, to designated shelters / pounds. "Prohibition on release of strays is stayed. They shall be dewormed, vaccinated and sent back to the respective areas.", a three-judge bench had said.

Court had further noted that it cannot be ignorant of the fact that the mandate to keep all the stray dogs, picked up from Delhi and the adjoining NCR cities, in the municipal shelters/pounds would require logistics of gargantuan proportions including manpower, shelters/pounds, veterinarians, cages and specially modified vehicles for transportation of the captured stray dogs.

On August 14, while raising concerns over the implementation of Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, and other legislations, Justice Vikram Nath led bench had asked the NGOs before it as to why they did not approach court for compliance earlier. "These NGOs should also be responsible..they should have approached court for compliance earlier..all these intervenors are also responsible..", the bench had said. Recently, 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 had said.

In July the top 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.

Case Title: IN RE: “CITY HOUNDED BY STRAYS, KIDS PAY PRICE”

Hearing Date: October 27, 2025

Bench: Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria