SC verdict on pleas for stay on stray dog round-up today

The Supreme Court is set to pronounce orders on Friday regarding petitions seeking a stay on its August 11 directive to round up stray dogs in Delhi-NCR and relocate them to shelters immediately. A three-judge Bench, led by Justice Vikram Nath, will deliver the order at 10.30 am.

Reserving the order, the Bench, which also included Justices Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria, said: “The entire problem is because of the inaction of local authorities… Rules are framed, but not implemented, thus creating a problem. On one hand, humans are suffering and on other, animal lovers want dogs protected.”

On August 11, a Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan had issued directions in a suo motu case titled “City hounded by strays, kids pay price” to permanently relocate all canines to shelters “at the earliest”. The matter was assigned to the three-judge Bench on August 13 after some lawyers mentioned before CJI BR Gavi that the August 11 directions were in conflict with previous orders passed by other Benches and statutory provisions.

On Thursday, the top court refused urgent listing of a petition challenging a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) notification on rounding up stray dogs. The plea was mentioned by a lawyer for urgent listing before a Bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi which turned down the request, saying a three-judge Bench has already reserved its order on the issue. The application accused the MCD of issuing the impugned notification without waiting for orders of the three-judge Bench.

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