Not directed removal of every dog from streets: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it had not directed the removal of every dog from the streets and the directive was to treat these stray canines according to the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules. While hearing arguments in the stray dogs case, the apex court observed that a dog can smell people who are either afraid of them or have suffered a dog bite and they attack such persons.

A three-judge special bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria was hearing the pleas, including the ones filed by dog lovers seeking modification of its earlier orders and those for stringent compliance with the directives.

“We have not directed the removal of every dog from the streets. The direction is to treat them as per the rules,” Justice Mehta observed.

The bench heard submissions of a battery of lawyers, including senior advocates CU Singh, Krishnan Venugopal, Dhruv Mehta, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Shyam Divan, Sidharth Luthra and Karuna Nundy.

At the outset, senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal, who is assisting the top court as an amicus curiae in the matter, informed the bench that four states had filed their compliance affidavits in the matter on Wednesday.

During his submissions, Singh said in places like Delhi, there is a rodent menace and the national capital also has a unique problem of monkeys. He said the abrupt removal of canines would lead to an increase in the rodent population, which has consequences.

“When the rodent population goes up, we have seen very disastrous consequences,” he said. Justice Mehta observed, “In a lighter vein, dogs and cats are enemies. Cats kill rodents. So we should promote more cats.”