The Supreme Court will hear a suo motu case related to stray dogs on Monday, October 27.
On August 22, the Supreme Court extended the scope of the stray dog case beyond the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) and ordered all states and Union territories to become parties to the matter.
According to the October 27 list of cases uploaded on the Supreme Court website, the matter will be heard by a three-judge special committee comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria.
Four separate pleas related to this issue are also listed for hearing on the same day.
In its order passed on August 22, the Supreme Court modified its earlier order banning the release of vaccinated stray dogs from pounds in Delhi-NCR, calling it “too harsh” and ordering that the canines be released after sterilization and deworming.
Pronouncing the order, the court said that all similar matters pending in high courts across the country would go to the apex court to take a “final national policy or decision” on the matter.
The bench had earlier directed the municipal authorities to continue to implement the August 11 directions to pick up stray dogs from all localities of Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram and immediately set up dog shelters or pound.
It said the Aug. 11 order banning the release of collected stray dogs would be put on hold for now.
“Dogs that are picked up must be sterilized, dewormed, vaccinated and released back to the same area from where they were picked up,” the three-judge bench said, according to PTI.
The Supreme Court also ordered that the relocation should not be for dogs infected with rabies or suspected to be infected with rabies and dogs showing aggression.
It ordered municipalities to submit affidavits of compliance with full statistics of resources such as dog pounds, veterinarians, dog trapping staff, specially modified vehicles and cages available to date to comply with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) rules.
The bench upheld all the States and Union Territories in the matter, finding that the application of the ABC rules was uniform across India.
A two-judge bench of the apex court issued a series of directions on August 11, including directing authorities in Delhi-NCR to start collecting stray dogs from all localities “as soon as possible” and relocate the canines to dog shelters.
The bench passed the order in a suo motu case initiated on July 28 over a media report on a stray dog bite leading to rabies, especially among children, in the state capital.
Following the August 11 order, widespread protests were reported across the country.
Later, the matter came up for hearing before a three-member special bench.
