New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the states and Union territories, which have not filed their compliance affidavits in the stray dogs case, and said continuous incidents were happening and the country was being “shown as down” in foreign nations.
The apex court directed the chief secretaries of the states, except West Bengal and Telangana, to remain present before it on November 3 to explain why compliance affidavits were not filed despite the court’s August 22 order.
The top court said except West Bengal, Telangana and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), none of the other states and UTs have filed their compliance affidavits.
“It is October 27 today. No response, nothing. And continuous incidents are happening. Your country is being shown as down in foreign countries,” a three-judge special bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria said.
It noted that pursuant to the August 22 order, only three compliance affidavits were filed.
“Notices have been issued to all the states and Union territories. As they have not responded, let the chief secretaries of all the states, other than... remain present before this court next Monday at 10.30 am along with their respective explanations as to why the compliance affidavits were not filed,” it said.
The bench noted that during the hearing, there was no representation from states which have not filed their affidavits.
The top court was hearing a suo motu case relating to stray dogs. On August 22, the apex court expanded the scope of the stray dogs case beyond the confines of Delhi-NCR, and directed that all states and UTs be made parties in the matter.
It 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 of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules.
The bench also impleaded all the states and UTs in the matter while observing that application of ABC Rules was uniform all over India.
During the hearing on Monday, when one of the advocates referred to some guidelines, the bench said, “Let the authorities come and point that out.”