The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed its displeasure at what it perceived to be lack of adequate measures taken by various States to sterilise stray dogs, establish dog pounds and remove dogs from campuses of educational and other institutions.
A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria noted that in Assam there were 1.66 lakh dog bites reported in 2024 but the State has only one dog centre."It is astonishing. In 2024 there were 1.66 lakh bites. And in 2025 only in January, there were 20,900. This is shocking," the Court noted. The Court expressed shock at the number of dog bite cases reported in Assam.
As regards Gujarat, the Court noted that there was "no information on dog pounds at all."On Jharkhand, the Court expressed concerns that the figures could be inflated since the State's affidavit said that around 1.6 lakh dogs were sterilised in the last two months.The matter gained national attention last year after a Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan directed Delhi municipal authorities to round up and shelter stray dogs, drawing protests from animal rights groups.
That order triggered widespread protests by animal rights groups and was later modified by the present three-judge Bench.The modified directions shifted the focus to vaccination, sterilisation and release of dogs in accordance with the Animal Birth Control Rules. Since then, the Court has expanded the scope of the case.
"For every State, I have addressed 4 aspects - one, functioning of Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres, two setting up of dog shelters, removal of dogs from institutional areas and removal of cattle etc, three, identification of stretches on highways prone to cattle ingress, and four, steps taken for removal," he said.On the State of Andhra Pradesh, he said,"Andhra Pradesh has 39 ABC Centres. 1,619 dogs can be sterilised each day. The state should audit existing facilities to see if they are fully utilised.
On State of Bihar, Agrawal said,"There are 34 ABC centres. 20,648 dogs have been sterilised. Daily capacity of sterilisation has not been mentioned. The affidavit does not indicate in how many institutional areas survey has been done to see if there are fences, boundary walls etc."On Goa and Kerala, Agrawal highlighted the issue plaguing the beaches in the two States.The Court told the counsel for Haryana that its affidavit was silent on steps taken to remove dogs from institutional areas.As regards State of Jharkhand, the Court expressed disbelief at the figures provided. "We can’t believe this. 1.89 lakh dogs have been sterilised," the Bench exclaimed.On Karnataka, the Court noted,"This is the only state which has given number of stray dogs in institutions."
"We will pass strong strictures against the government for all the States. If you would have said you don’t have information and need more time, we would understand. All the States who have put these vague averments in their affidavits, will get a proper dressing down. Total eye wash," the Court warned.The counsel for Madhya Pradesh said,"Catching is not happening as of now, because we don’t have shelter homes. 475 dogs have been put in shelter homes."The counsel for Maharashtra said that they have created an online dashboard giving details.On Odisha, the Court noted that as per the State's affidavit, they have picked up significant number of dogs from institutions.
The counsel for West Bengal said that in 2024, 12,000 dogs were sterilised.For Delhi, Additional Solicitor General SD Sanjay appeared."Chief secretary of Delhi has filed a detailed affidavit. NDMC is a small area. Rest is taken care by MCD," he said."If they are sterilising 68,000 dogs in 8 months, it will be around 80,000 in a year. It will not be sufficient to reduce dog population," the Court said.The hearing will continue on Thursday at 2 pm.
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