In a significant order, the Supreme Court has directed authorities in the Delhi-NCR region to capture all stray dogs and place them in shelters. The court, in its August 11 order, referred to the action as a “progressive exercise” and acknowledged that the creation of shelters would take time. It instructed authorities to “begin by creating dog shelter(s) for say 5,000 dogs in the next six-eight weeks.” The matter has since been referred to a larger bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and NV Anjaria for a hearing on August 14.
The detailed order, which was uploaded to the Supreme Court website on Wednesday, clarified that under no circumstances should the captured dogs be released back onto the streets after being “sterilized, dewormed and immunized as required by Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023.”
The court has ordered that the two exercises—rounding up the dogs and creating the necessary infrastructure—be undertaken simultaneously. The order explicitly warned authorities against any “lethargy” on the pretext of waiting for shelters to be built, threatening strict action if there is non-compliance. The shelters and pounds, the order stated, must have sufficient personnel to handle the sterilization, deworming, and immunization of the dogs, as well as their general care.
The two-judge bench took suo motu notice of the stray dog issue, citing an increase in dog bite cases. The order covers all localities in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad, and Gurugram, as well as their surrounding areas.