The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to grant urgent hearing to petitioners challenging a recent notification by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to round up stray dogs in the national capital.

The matter was mentioned before Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi seeking urgent listing but the Court refused to pass any direction.

The issue concerning stray dogs has hogged the limelight in the national capital for the past few weeks after the a Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan on August 8 ordered the municipal authorities in Delhi to begin rounding up stray dogs from all areas, prioritising vulnerable localities, and to establish shelters with an initial capacity of at least 5,000 dogs within eight weeks.

The order prohibited the re-release of dogs back to the streets, mandated sterilisation, immunisation and de-worming, and required that shelters be equipped with CCTV, adequate staff, food and medical care.

It further required the creation of a helpline within a week to report dog bites, capture of offending dogs within four hours of a complaint and publication of monthly rabies vaccination and treatment data.

Any obstruction to the exercise by animal activists would be treated as contempt of court.

The Court passed the August 11 order in a suo motu case. It observed that the menace of dog bites violates the fundamental rights of citizens under Articles 19(1)(d) and 21, noting that over 25,000 such cases were reported in Delhi in 2024 and more than 3,000 in January 2025 alone.

The Court in that order also slammed animal activists and cautioned against “virtue signalling” by animal lovers that ignored the core problem.

The order prompted widespread protests by animal rights activists.

Later, the matter was mentioned before Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai, with submissions that there were overlapping Supreme Court proceedings on stray dogs before different benches, raising the possibility of conflicting directions.

The Chief Justice assured that the issue would be examined, and the case was directed to be listed before a new three-judge Bench.

Subsequently, a different three-judge Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria heard the matter and reserved its order on pleas challenging the August 11 order.

However, this Bench did not grant any stay on the directions issued to municipal authorities by the earlier Bench.

This prompted new applications before the top court to stop actions taken by municipal authorities.