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

Dogs infected with rabies or showing aggressive behaviour will remain in shelters.

The Supreme Court on Friday decided to expand the scope of the proceedings to evolve a pan-India national policy on the problem of stray dogs, faced across the country.

The court, however, ordered to keep in abeyance a direction issued by a two-judge bench in a suo motu case on August 11, 2025 against releasing stray dogs after they were picked up from localities in Delhi-NCR region.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria said that the dogs can be relocated back barring those affected with rabies and those showing aggressive behaviour.

The court ordered the municipal authorities to create or identify feeding areas in each ward.

The court said no feeding in other areas would be allowed as unregulated feeding created problems to common man. It also directed for creating helpline to lodge complaints against violations.

The bench declared that no individual or organisation would cause any hindrance in discharge of duties by officers. NGOs would be paid Rs 25000 each for creation of facilities. 

The court clarified no individual or organisation should obstruct the municipal authorites from picking up the dogs in terms of the ABC rules.

"We propose to expand the scope of the proceedings to include all States and UTs and their Animal husbandry department and municipal authorities," the bench said.

The court directed its registry to get the details of the similar pending matter before the High Courts, which would be transferred to the apex court.

The bench listed the matter for consideration after eight weeks, after impleading all States and Union Territories as parties to the proceedings.

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'.