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News Topical, Digital Desk : The Supreme Court on Friday amended its August 11 order to catch stray dogs and keep them in dog shelters. In the amended order, the Supreme Court has said that stray dogs will be caught and released after sterilization and vaccination. But along with this, the court has clarified that aggressive and rabies infected dogs will not be released after being caught, and they will even be kept separately in dog shelters.
The apex court has also ordered that the urban bodies will make a designated place (feeding point) in each ward to feed stray dogs with immediate effect. No institution or person will feed dogs on the street under any circumstances and action will be taken against anyone found violating this direction as per law. This order of the court will be applicable uniformly across the country.
Will be released back after vaccination
The Supreme Court has issued notices to all states and union territories expanding the scope of the case. Compliance report will be filed in eight weeks and the case will be heard again. The three-member bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria has said that the order of August 11 will remain in force as it is, with only one amendment that after sterilization and vaccination of the captured dogs, except for rabies infected or aggressive dogs, the rest will be brought back to the same place and released.
The second amendment is that the first order was for Delhi NCR. Now it will be applicable to the whole country. The court has also given orders regarding dog lovers and animal lovers and NGOs and said that if an application is to be filed in the Supreme Court, then the individual applicant will have to deposit Rs 25000 and the NGO will have to deposit Rs 2 lakh in the Supreme Court registry, only then the hearing will take place. And this money will be used to create infrastructure for stray dogs.
Separate feeding points will be made
The court has given permission to adopt stray dogs in its order. The order states that animal lovers can apply to the concerned municipal body to adopt stray dogs but it will be their responsibility to ensure that the dog they have adopted should not be back on the streets. It will be the responsibility of the municipal bodies to make feeding points for dogs keeping in view the number of dogs in that area. A notice board will be put up near the feeding point which will state that stray dogs can be fed only at this place.
The court has said that under no circumstances will it be allowed to feed stray dogs on the streets and if a person is found violating this order and feeding dogs on the streets, action will be taken against him as per law. The court said that these instructions are being issued because incidents of dog attacks occur due to irregular feeding of dogs on the streets and this instruction is to ensure that the practice of feeding dogs on the streets and public places is stopped, because this practice becomes a big problem for the people walking on the streets and roads.
Action will be taken on violation
The apex court has said that every municipal body will issue a helpline number where complaints of violation of these orders can be made and as soon as a complaint is received, appropriate action will be taken against the concerned person or NGO. The Supreme Court again clarified today that no person or organization will obstruct the implementation of these instructions. If anyone obstructs the work of a public servant complying with the order, action will be taken against him under obstruction of the work of a public servant. The court has directed all the municipal bodies to file an affidavit and provide the data of existing infrastructure resources such as the number of dog shelters, veterinarians, dog catchers, special vehicles for catching dogs and cages etc.
The court has ordered all the states and union territories to be added as parties through the secretaries of the Animal Husbandry Department and the secretaries of the local bodies so that information can be obtained about the steps taken to implement the ABC rule in their areas. Along with this, the court has also transferred the pending petitions related to the problem of stray dogs in various High Courts of the country to the Supreme Court. These will be heard along with this case. The court has sought a compliance report in eight weeks. The case will be heard again after eight weeks.
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