3-judge Supreme Court bench to hear issue of stray dogs afresh | India News

NEW DELHI: In a big determination coming two days after Justice J B Pardiwala-led two-judge bench’s controversial order for elimination of all stray dogs from Delhi and NCR streets, Chief Justice B R Gavai Wednesday withdrew the case from that bench and posted it for rehearing on Thursday earlier than a three-judge particular bench led by Justice Vikram Nath.In the much-criticised Aug 11 order, Justices Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had directed Delhi and NCR civic authorities to “start picking up and rounding up stray dogs from all localities of Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad, Gurgaon as well as areas on the outskirts, and relocate these dogs to designated shelters/pounds.”Prompted by pleas from two counsel – one of whom pointed to the order’s obvious battle with a earlier judgment of one other apex court docket bench – and the excoriating criticism of SC by animal lovers, activists and the general public, CJI Gavai moved speedily to withdraw the matter from Justice Pardiwala’s bench and assign it to Justices Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria.

On May 9, 2024, a bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Sanjay Karol had handed an elaborate order disposing of two dozen petitions filed by Kerala, Animal Welfare Board, NGOs and animal lovers interesting in opposition to conflicting excessive court docket orders on elimination of stray dogs.On Wednesday morning, a counsel had talked about earlier than the CJI that the Aug 11 order was in battle with final 12 months’s SC judgment, which had ordered civic our bodies to act with compassion and strictly inaccordance with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, whereas coping with stray dogs.Another counsel appeared earlier than the CJI at 4 pm and complained that whereas the Aug 11 order was not but obtainable, authorities had begun implementing it.In their 2024 judgment, the bench of Justices Maheshwari and Karol had stated, “Under all circumstances, there cannot be any indiscriminate killings of canines, and authorities have to take action in terms of the mandate and spirit of the prevalent legislation(s) in place. There is no gainsaying the fact that exhibiting compassion to all living beings is the enshrined constitutional value and mandate and casts obligation on the authorities to maintain it.“The Aug 11 order can also be not in concord with the Animal Birth Control guidelines which prohibit relocation of stray dogs.