The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved an order on petitions seeking a stay on suo moto order on stray dogs passed on Monday, August 11. A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court had directed the authorities to relocate stray dogs of Delhi-NCR to shelters.
The Supreme Court bench had directed immediate creation of dog shelters or pounds and report to it about the creation of such infrastructure within eight weeks. Follow Supreme Court stray dogs case hearing live updates
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai on Wednesday withdrew the suo motu case on stray dogs from the bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan.
The new bench, led by Justice Vikram Nath, took up the matter on Thursday.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government during Supreme Court hearing on stray dogs in Thursday, said he has seen people posting videos of eating meat and then claiming to be animal lovers.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for an NGO which looks after dogs, said the situation was "very serious" and the matter was needed to be argued in depth.
{{/usCountry}}Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for an NGO which looks after dogs, said the situation was "very serious" and the matter was needed to be argued in depth.
{{/usCountry}}Sibal sought a stay on some of the directions passed by the Supreme Court on August 11.
The Supreme Court order has left people divided, with one section backing the directive as a “relief” and another opposing it, warning that it could worsen human–dog conflict and is “illogical.”
The India wing of the American animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) termed the Supreme Court’s order to send all stray dogs in Delhi-NCR to shelters within eight weeks “impractical, illogical, and illegal.” PETA India said the forced removal of Delhi’s community dogs would create “chaos and suffering” for both the animals and residents.
During the hearing on Thursday, the Supreme Court asked local authorities about their stand on the implementation of Animal Birth Control rules.
The court said that the whole problem is because of inaction by authorities in implementing the rules, according to ANI news agency. Rules and laws are framed by the Parliament, but they are not followed, the Supreme Court said, adding that local authorities are not doing what they should be doing.