Supreme Court modifies order, says stray dogs to be released after sterilisation, immunisation

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday decided to expand the scope of the proceedings with regard to stray dogs menace beyond Delhi-National Capital Region, to evolve a pan-India policy.

Applying a "holistic approach", the court, however, allowed relocation of community canines after vaccination to the streets, finding its August 11 order as "too harsh" and against the "compassionate treatment".

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria said, 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," the bench said.

The court emphasised a holistic approach required mollification of the directions issued on August 11, 2025 in a suo motu proceedings initiated in July after death of a girl due to dog bite in Delhi.

The court clarified that this relocation would 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," the bench said.

The court directed the municipal authorities to forthwith commence an exercise for creating dedicated feeding spaces for the stray dogs in each municipal ward. The feeding areas shall be created or identified keeping in view the population and concentration of stray dogs in the particular municipal ward.

“Gantries/notice boards shall be placed near such designated feeding areas, mentioning that stray dogs shall only be fed in such areas. Under no condition shall the feeding of stray dogs on the streets be permitted. The persons found feeding the dogs on the streets in contravention of the above directions shall be liable to be proceeded against under the relevant legal framework,” the bench said.

It also directed for creating helpline to lodge complaints against violations.

Dealing with the matter, the court proposed to expand the scope of the matter beyond the confines of New Delhi and the NCR region, as the application of the ABC Rules is uniform all over the country and the same issues, taken up in the suo motu, have either cropped up or are likely to exist in every State.

The court directed for the impleadment of all States and Union Territories in the matter, so as to seek information from each authority regarding the steps being taken for compliance of the ABC (Animal Birth Control) Rules in their respective jurisdictions.

The court ordered transfer of all pending matters before the High Courts to this court for analogous consideration along with the main matter.

In its order on a plea by a group of NGOs and animal lovers against August 11 order by a two-judge bench on picking up all stray dogs from the streets in Delhi NCR, the bench said, "There is not even the slightest doubt in our minds that the intent behind the order is salutary inasmuch as it works towards protecting the citizens at large from the attacks by the aggressive and rabid stray dogs."

However, the court pointed out, there are certain vital factors that call for a balancing exercise so that the order can be taken to its logical conclusion while keeping its ambit within the contour of the legal framework, i.e., the ABC Rules, 2023.

The court noted the framework of the ABC Rules, to be specific, Rule 11(19) clearly provided that once the stray dogs have been sterilised, inoculated, and dewormed, they have to be released back in the same locality from which they were picked up.

"One cannot be ignorant of the fact that the mandate to keep all the stray dogs, picked up from Delhi and the adjoining NCR cities, in the municipal shelters/pounds would require logistics of gargantuan proportions including manpower, shelters/pounds, veterinarians, cages and specially modified vehicles for transportation of the captured stray dogs," the bench said.

It also pointed out the rule for relocation to the same locality was scientifically carved out for it prevents the scope of overcrowding in the dog shelters or pounds, and secondly, leaving the stray dogs after immunisation and sterilisation to the same environment where they were living earlier, was a compassionate treatment.

The court was informed towns like Dehradun and Lucknow, which have taken aggressive measures for sterilisation, etc, as per the ABC Rules, have seen a steady decline in the population of stray dogs. A suggestion was also made that chemical castration is a safe, painless, and effective mode of sterilisation.

The court directed each individual dog lover and each NGO that has approached this court would deposit a sum of Rs 25,000 and Rs 2,00,000, respectively, with the Registry within a period of seven days, failing which they shall not be allowed to appear in the matter any further.

The amounts so deposited would be utilised in the creation of the infrastructure and facilities for the stray dogs under the aegis of the respective municipal bodies, it said.

The court directed the municipal authorities to 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 ABC Rules. It fixed the matter for consideration after eight weeks.

On August 14, the court reserved its order and asked all the intervenors who questioned the validity of the previous order to file an affidavit, saying there is human sufferings on the one side and animal lovers on the other.

The court then said all this problem happened because of the inaction of the Municipal Corporation.

A fresh bench of three judges was constituted by Chief Justice of India B R Gavai after the previous order by a two-judge bench triggered strong reactions, including street protests.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, A M Singhvi, Sidharth Luthra, Siddharth Dave, Aman Lekhi, Colin Gonsalves and others, appearing for NGOs and others, sought stay of the August 11 order, saying there was not enough shelter homes to house stray dogs.

On August 11, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had directed the Delhi government, and the municipal bodies across the national capital region to start at the earliest on removing the stray dogs from all the localities, finding the situation as extremely grim.

The court had said any individual or organisation coming in the way of removal of such stray dogs would face strict actions, including contempt proceedings.

"Immediate steps need to be taken to take care of the menace of dog bites leading to rabies," the bench had said.

In July, the Supreme Court stepped in to tackle menace of dog bite incidents, causing death by rabies by taking suo motu cognisance of a media report related to the untimely demise of a six-year-old girl child.

It had registered a case as 'In Re: City Hounded by Strays, Kids Pay Price'.