'No Respect For Orders': Top Court Urges Chief Secretaries To Appear Physically In Stray Dogs Case

The Supreme Court on Friday rapped the chief secretaries of multiple states after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta requested that the court allow them to appear virtually before it on November 3 in the stray dogs case.

Earlier, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta had made it clear that the chief secretaries will have to appear physically before the court on November 3.

“When we require them to come and file a compliance affidavit, they are just sleeping over it, Justice Nath said.

“No respect for the order of the court. Then, alright, let them come,” he added.

Mehta had mentioned the matter before the bench, requesting the Supreme Court to allow the chief secretaries of states, except West Bengal and Telangana, to appear virtually before the court.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court had refused to accept the Bihar government’s request to exempt its chief secretary from appearing before it on November 3 in the stray dogs case due to assembly elections in the state.

“There is an Election Commission which would take care. Don’t worry. Let the chief secretary come,” the bench of Justices Nath and Sandeep Mehta told the counsel appearing for Bihar.

Assembly elections in Bihar are scheduled on November 6 and 11, and votes will be counted on November 14.

While hearing the stray dogs matter on October 27, the top court had directed that all, except the chief secretaries of West Bengal and Telangana, will remain present before it on November 3 to explain why compliance affidavits were not filed despite the court’s August 22 order.

Earlier, on August 22, the court had expanded the scope of the stray dogs case beyond the confines of Delhi-National Capital Region, and directed that all states and UTs be made parties in the matter.

It had directed the municipal authorities to file an affidavit of compliance with complete statistics of resources like dog pounds, veterinarians, dog-catching personnel, and specially-modified vehicles and cages available as on date for the purpose of compliance with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules.

The bench had also impleaded the states and UTs in the matter while observing that the application of the ABC Rules was uniform all over India.

The Supreme Court is hearing a suo motu case, which was initiated on July 28 over a media report on stray dog bites leading to rabies, particularly among children, in the national capital.

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