NEW DELHI, Aug 14: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on an interim plea seeking a stay on its August 11 suo motu directive on the concerned authorities to remove all stray dogs from the streets in the residential areas in the entire Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) and relocating the animals in shelter homes within six to eight weeks.
“Local authorities are not doing what they should be doing. They should be here taking responsibility,” a Bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath and also comprising Sandeep Mehta and N.V. Anjaria underscored. However, the top court declined to grant a stay on the directions issued to civic bodies by a Division Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan.
During the proceedings, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Union Government, said most fatalities from dog bites and rabies involved children and called for an urgent resolution to the escalating public health risk posed by stray dogs. “We have seen videos of people eating meat and then projecting themselves as animal lovers. Children are dying because of dog bites. Sterilisation does not stop rabies or the mutilation of children”, he said.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for an NGO which looks after dogs, said the situation was “very serious” and the matter needed to be argued in depth. He pressed for a stay on some of the directives in the August 11 order, contending that they contravened the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, which prohibit relocation of strays from their original place of habitation.
Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, appearing for one of the petitioners, argued that the August 11, 2025, order “puts the horse before the cart,” as there were no adequate shelters to accommodate the strays. He added that the directive contravenes earlier Supreme Court rulings mandating strict adherence to the ABC Rules, 2023, in rehabilitating stray dogs.
The suo-motu case, initially heard by a Bench led by Justice J.B. Pardiwala, was later reassigned by Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai to a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath. On August 13, 2025, a lawyer apprised the Chief Justice of a May 9, 2024, order to treat stray canines with compassion. The CJI had agreed to list the case after this oral mentioning.
Taking cognisance of increasing instances of stray dog attacks on children, including infants, Justice Pardiwala had said authorities should “at the earliest start picking up stray dogs from all localities, more particularly the vulnerable localities of the city as well as areas on the outskirts.” The Bench had further highlighted that Delhi recorded 25,201 dog-bite cases in 2024 and said its directions were being issued in the larger public interest.
However, the directives sparked widespread outrage among animal rights activists, public figures, and welfare organisations, who argued that the region lacks sufficient facilities to accommodate an estimated eight lakh stray dogs. They cautioned that the large-scale capture of so many animals could result in logistical chaos and lead to acts of cruelty.
(Manas Dasgupta)