Supreme Court To Expand Scope Of Stray Dogs Matter Beyond New Delhi & NCR Region
|The Supreme Court clarified that the relocation shall not apply to the dogs infected with rabies or suspected to be infected with rabies, and those that display aggressive behaviour.
The Supreme Court while partially modifying its previous Order regarding capturing and shifting of stray dogs from Delhi streets, has proposed to expand the scope of this matter beyond the confines of New Delhi and the NCR region.
A Bench of two Judges had on July 28, 2025, taken suo motu cognizance of a news report published in the Times of India, Delhi Edition, titled “City Hounded by Strays, Kids Pay Price”.
The three-Judge Bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta, and Justice N.V. Anjaria observed, “Since the application of the ABC Rules is uniform all over the country and the same issues which have been taken up in the Suo Moto Writ Petition have either cropped up or are likely to exist in every State, we propose to expand the scope of this matter beyond the confines of New Delhi and the NCR region.”
The Bench directed the impleadment of all States and Union Territories in this matter through the Secretaries concerned of the Animal Husbandry Department, Secretaries of the local bodies (Municipal Corporation, Municipal Councils, Municipalities, etc.) and the Administrators of the Union Territories so as to seek information from each authority regarding the steps being taken for compliance of the ABC Rules in their respective jurisdictions.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta appeared for the GNCTD (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi).
Background
Pursuant to the taking of suo moto cognizance, the matter came to be listed before the Bench on August 11, 2025. Various directions were issued regarding the picking up and sterilization of stray dogs in Delhi and NCR (National Capital Region). The Bench also directed the creation of dog shelters or pounds for the relocation and immunization purpose. In the intervening period, several interlocutory applications for intervention were filed by individuals and organisations working for the welfare of the stray dogs, seeking a stay on the directions contained in the said Order. The issue placed before the three-Judge Bench centred around the right of the stray dogs to live on the streets, vis-à-vis, the safety and security of the citizens particularly the kids and elderly people from these very stray dogs, many of whom are suspected to be infected with the communicable disease, i.e., rabies.
Court’s Observations
The Supreme Court in view of such circumstances, noted, “The aggressive sterilisation would definitely put a curb on the rapid growth of the stray dog population, ultimately leading to its reduction. However, this is possible only in an idealistic situation, which seems unlikely in the present scenario.”
The Court was of the opinion that the direction given in the Order dated August 11, 2025, prohibiting the release of the treated and vaccinated dogs seems to be too harsh.
“It cannot be gainsaid that before any direction for impounding the entire stray dog population is given, it would be necessary to have a look at the existing infrastructure and human resources available with the municipal bodies. A blanket direction to pick up all the strays and place them in dog shelters/pounds without evaluating the existing infrastructure may lead to a catch-22 situation because such directions may be impossible to comply with”, it said.
The Court remarked that a holistic approach requires mollification of the directions issued vide Order dated August 11, 2025.
Court’s Directions
The Court, therefore, supplemented, modified, and clarified the earlier directions in the following manner –
a. Municipal authorities shall continue to comply with the directions contained in paras 12(i) and 12(ii) of the subject order.
b. The directions contained in paras 12(iii) and 12(iv), to the extent that they prohibit the release of the picked up strays, shall be kept in abeyance for the time being. The dogs that are picked up shall be sterilised, dewormed, vaccinated, and released back to the same area from which they were picked up. It is, however, clarified that this relocation shall not apply to the dogs infected with rabies or suspected to be infected with rabies, and those that display aggressive behaviour. Such dogs shall be sterilised and immunised, but under no circumstances should they be released back onto the streets. Furthermore, as far as possible, such stray dogs shall be kept in a separate pound/shelter after sterilisation and immunisation.
c. The directions contained in para 12(v) shall remain subject to the directions given by us in paras (a) and (b).
d. Municipal authorities shall forthwith commence an exercise for creating dedicated feeding spaces for the stray dogs in each municipal ward. The feeding areas shall be created/identified keeping in view the population and concentration of stray dogs in the particular municipal ward.
e. Each municipal authority shall create a dedicated helpline number for reporting incidents of violation of the above directions.
f. The direction given in para 13 of the order dated 11th August 2025, is reiterated with a slight modification that no individual or organisation shall cause any hindrance or obstruction in the effective implementation of the directions given above. In case any public servant acting in compliance with the aforesaid directions is obstructed, then the violator/s shall be liable to face prosecution for obstructing the public servant acting in discharge of official duty.
g. Each individual dog lover and each NGO that has approached this Court shall deposit a sum of Rs. 25,000/- and Rs. 2,00,000/-, respectively, with the Registry of the Court within a period of 7 days, failing which they shall not be allowed to appear in the matter any further. The amounts so deposited shall be utilised in the creation of the infrastructure and facilities for the stray dogs under the aegis of the respective municipal bodies.
h. The desirous animal lover/s shall be free to move the application to the concerned municipal body for adoption of the street dogs, upon which the identified/selected street dog/s shall be tagged and given in adoption to the applicant. It shall be the responsibility of the applicant(s) to ensure that the adopted stray dogs do not return to the streets.
i. The municipal authorities shall file an affidavit of compliance with complete statistics of resources, viz., dog pounds, veterinarians, dog catching personnel, specially modified vehicles/cages available as on date for the purpose of compliance of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules.
Conclusion
The Court also noted that numerous Writ Petitions/Suo Moto Petitions are pending in various High Courts, more or less dealing with common issues.
“Hence, the Registry shall seek information about such pending writ petitions from the Registrar Generals of all the High Courts, and thereafter, these writ petitions shall stand transferred to this Court for analogous consideration along with the main matter”, it concluded.
Accordingly, the Apex Court listed the matters after eight weeks for further directions and for receiving the compliance report.
Cause Title- In Re: “City Hounded By Strays, Kids Pay Price” (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 1018)