Nagpur: The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has ordered Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to file a reply within two weeks asking what measures will be taken for controlling the menace of more than 1 lakh stray dogs in the city. Vijay Talewar and Manoj Shakya have filed this petition seeking an order to control stray dogs in Nagpur.
Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice GA Sanap at the High Court here,on Wednesday, directed NMC to furnish details regarding measures taken to control stray dog menace. The petitioners have made the State of Maharashtra through Principal Secretary (Urban Development Department), Principal Secretary (Department of Animal Husbandry), NMC through its Commissioner, and the committee appointed under Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001 through its Chairman (Municipal Commissioner), as respondents.
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Thursday 07 Nov. 2024
The petitioners sought to know the number of stray dogs in Nagpur city, number of dogs sterilized, average number of dogs sterilized daily. The court directed NMC to place on record these details in two weeks. Also, the court sought to know from NMC as to what was the progress regarding compliance of the directions issued on June 14, 2006 by Justice J N Patel and Justice S R Dongaonkar in a petition regarding menace of stray dogs.
It may be mentioned here that Justice J N Patel and Justice S R Dongaonkar had observed in 2006 that it would be in the fitness of things that all members of the committee, that is, NGOs ‘are given responsibility of taking care of stray dogs and paying compensation to the victims who are bitten by these dogs by allotting them specific wards’. Further, the court had asked the NGOs concerned to obtain necessary licences of stray dogs so that they could own the responsibility by adopting the stray dogs and provide for them shelter, food and treatment, and also take preventive measures so that they do not come in conflict with human beings.
In the latest petition, petitioners Vijay Talewar and Manoj Shakya cited reports published in various newspapers to highlight the incidents of dog bite and deaths in attacks by stray dogs. They cited NMC data that 8,843 people were bitten by dogs in the last three years. The petitioners alleged that NMC had taken no action either to control the population of stray dogs or to sterilize them. They stated that, it was expected from the Municipal Commissioner to come up with a solution for compensation to the dog bite victim, a specific sum of money considering the expenses required for treatment, damage to property due to attack of stray dog.
Adv Firdos Mirza represented the petitioners.
