Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has taken up a public interest petition seeking a comprehensive stray dog population census in Indore and regulation of feeding practices
in public places, amid rising concerns over public safety and dog-bite incidents.
The petition has been filed by Doing Needful Association of Young People for Harmonious Co-existence of Indore City through Rupesh, as a pro bono matter. The petitioner has sought directions to the state government and civic authorities to conduct a time-bound stray dog census through an independent third party in collaboration with the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to ensure accuracy and data integrity.
The plea also calls for the regulation of stray dog feeding in public areas to ensure that such activities do not endanger public safety. It seeks notification of designated feeding zones in every ward of the city and issuance of a “Code of Conduct” for residents to promote safe interaction with stray animals and reduce incidents arising from provocative behaviour.
In addition, the petitioner has requested the court to direct authorities to place on record details of the last stray dog census, if conducted, along with five-year data on sterilisation programmes, including the total number of dogs sterilised and expenditure incurred. The plea further seeks submission of a summary report of dog-bite complaints received through the ‘Indore 311’ mobile app, helpline numbers and physical registers over the last three years.
The petition also seeks compliance with directions issued by the Supreme Court in “In Re: City Hounded by Strays”, including periodic compliance reports and data mapping to identify high-risk zones within the city.
During the hearing, the High Court allowed an application to link the present petition with an earlier public interest litigation raising similar issues, which is scheduled for hearing on January 13.
Another application seeking the retrieval and scanning of records from disposed PILs of 2013 and 2023 on the same subject was also allowed, with directions to the Registry to upload the records with the present case.
A division bench comprising Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla and Justice Alok Awasthi issued notice to respondent No. 3 and directed that responses may be filed before the next date of hearing. The matter will be heard along with the connected petition on January 13.
