Animal lovers had camped at Jantar Mantar protesting the Supreme Court’s August 11 order for days; on Friday, they finally had reason to cheer.
The apex court softened its own August 11 diktat to send thousands of stray dogs from Delhi-NCR streets into shelters. A three-judge bench led by Justice Vikram Nath ruled that dogs that are not aggressive should be sterilised, vaccinated and sent back to their original locations.
The order comes as part of the suo motu case the court took up following a news report published in The Times of India, Delhi Edition, titled “City Hounded by Strays, Kids Pay Price”, that highlighted incidents of dog bites in Delhi .
On August 11, the bench had barred the release of any stray picked up for sterilisation.
But Friday’s order keeps the round-up drive going across Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram, but now it changes the blanket prohibition.
The court accepted that holding all strays indefinitely in municipal pounds was “too harsh” and logistically impossible. It noted that Rule 11(19) of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules requires dogs to be returned to their original areas after treatment.
Beyond sterilisation, the bench addressed one of the most disputed issues…feeding strays on roads.
Reports of fights between feeders and residents have cropped up across India.
“Municipal authorities shall forthwith commence an exercise for creating dedicated feeding spaces for the stray dogs in each municipal ward,” the order said. “Gantry boards shall be placed near such designated feeding areas, mentioning that stray dogs shall only be fed in such areas.”
The court also ruled: "Under no condition shall the feeding of stray dogs on the streets be permitted.”
Anyone found feeding dogs outside these zones can be penalised.
The court directed municipalities to create helplines for reporting violations. Obstructing municipal staff enforcing these rules could lead to prosecution.
The order explicitly barred “any individual or organisation” from hindering implementation.
At the same time, it opened the door for adoption by those who care for street animals.
“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,” the bench held.
“It shall be the responsibility of the applicant(s) to ensure that the adopted stray dogs do not return to the streets.”
The court also required those who intervened in the case to contribute financially; individual petitioners must deposit Rs 25,000, and NGOs Rs 2,00,000, within seven days.
That money, the court said, will go toward building infrastructure for strays.
Animal welfare groups countered that the August 11 order violated the ABC (animal birth control) Rules and risked mass culling, given the lack of municipal infrastructure.
The ABC rules mandate the sterilisation and vaccination of stray dogs before releasing them back into their communities.
They also said feeders were being harassed.
Now the bench has expanded the case beyond NCR. It directed all states and Union Territories to report on ABC Rule compliance.
High courts hearing similar petitions will have their cases transferred to the Supreme Court.
Friday’s ruling also mandates helplines nationwide once the matter is heard further. The case will be listed again in eight weeks.
The coming weeks will test if the country’s municipal bodies can execute the court’s directions, which means create feeding zones in every ward, tag and track adopted dogs, and sterilise thousands of strays.
The Supreme Court has made clear it will seek compliance reports.