Mumbai: Mumbai-based animal welfare officer Sooraraj Saha has urged the president and prime minister of India to intervene and review the supreme court’s order mandating the removal of stray dogs from
Delhi-NCR, sending the appeal through Advocate Varun Vij. He said that while the order’s objective appears to be public safety, the measure raises grave legal, humanitarian and practical concerns, while also distorting public confidence in the judicial process.
The Supreme Court's latest directive to clear stray dogs from the streets of Delhi has ignited a wave of emotional responses nationwide. Along with other parts of the country, animal lovers and activists in Mumbai have also expressed resentment against it and demanded that it should be overturned, describing the order as inhumane and unjust.
Amid the nationwide debate that has been sparked following the order, Mumbai-based animal welfare officer Soorraj Saha, appointed by the Maharashtra government, has written to the president and the prime minister urging urgent constitutional intervention to halt and review the order. He highlighted that the constitutional scheme under Article 21, read with Article 51A(g), mandates a harmonious coexistence between humans and animals.
Saha alleged that the order gravely disregards the existing infrastructural and administrative realities and appears inconsistent with the constitutional and statutory obligations of the state towards animals.
Concerns Over Practicality and Infrastructure
He said that the NCR presently lacks the logistical capacity, infrastructure and trained manpower required to humanely shelter the vast population of stray dogs. He claimed that existing municipal shelters face severe overcrowding, unhygienic conditions, shortage of veterinary staff and inadequate funding, making the order impractical and unimplementable.
Legal and Humane Issues
The letter alleged that the execution of such a sweeping directive, without any implementable and phased plan, will result in overcrowding, neglect, inhumane conditions and also indirectly lead to the mass culling of animals. It claimed that it would be in clear violation of the prevention of cruelty to animals act and the animal birth control rules.
The representation cited the supreme court’s judgement in animal welfare board of India versus A. Nagaraja of 2014, where the apex court recognised the right of animals to live with dignity and declared animal welfare to be an integral part of the constitutional morality of the state. It alleged that the present directive departs sharply from this settled position, risking the erosion of hard-won jurisprudence that has safeguarded animal rights for decades.
Request for Interim Safeguards
Saha has urged the president and the PM to use their constitutional powers and call for an immediate review of the order and impress upon the supreme court the need for a practical, scientifically grounded and legally compliant framework for stray dog management that protects both public safety and animal welfare.
It has also requested for interim safeguards preventing any indiscriminate rounding up of stray dogs until adequate infrastructure, humane protocols and lawful procedures are in place till the review is pending.
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“By bypassing comprehensive consultation with key stakeholders, including municipal corporations, veterinary experts, public health authorities and registered animal welfare organisations, the judgment has overlooked essential procedural safeguards. The absence of such consultation raises the apprehension that the order is the product of selective representations and not the result of an objective, evidence- based appraisal of the issue,” the letter read.
