Supreme Court’s big order on stray dogs: remove them from hospitals and stations, sterilize and shelter them

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Expressing serious concern over the increasing number of stray dog bites across the country, the Supreme Court issued a major order on Friday. The court issued clear instructions to remove stray dogs from public places, especially government institutions. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and NV Anjaria issued this order in a suo motu case on stray dogs.

The court directed all state governments and union territories to identify all government institutions, including district hospitals, public sports complexes, and railway stations, within two weeks

. These institutions are then required to be secured by erecting appropriate boundary walls to prevent the entry of stray dogs within eight weeks.

Responsibility of catching stray dogs lies with local bodies:

The Supreme Court said that the responsibility of catching stray dogs from these identified places will be of local bodies (like Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council etc.).

The court's most important ruling concerned the treatment of captured dogs. The court directed local authorities to capture them, vaccinate and sterilize them, and then place them in designated dog shelters .

The Supreme Court clearly stated, “Dogs should not be released back at the places from where they were seized,” as doing so would defeat the very purpose of ridding these institutions of dogs.

Additionally, the court also said that the local bodies should conduct periodic inspections to ensure that stray dogs do not start settling in these places again