Supreme Court modifies stray dogs order; allows release from shelters after vaccination, but no feeding on streets

The Supreme Court on Friday modified its earlier order of August 11 which had directed rounding up of all stray dogs in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) and prohibited their release from dog shelters.

A three-judge Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria said that the dogs shall be released from dog shelters after being dewormed and vaccinated. To that extent, the August 11 order was changed.

"Prohibition on release of strays shall be stayed. They shall be dewormed, vaccinated etc and sent back to the same area," the Court today directed.

However, dogs with aggressive behavior or with rabies shall not be released into public spaces from dog shelters, the three-judge Bench clarified.

Further, the Court maintained that feeding of dogs on the streets shall not be permitted, and can only be done in dedicated feeding spaces.

"Municipal authorities shall forthwith commence an exercise for creating dedicated feeding spaces for strays dogs in each municipal ward...Gantries, notice boards shall be placed near such designated feeding areas mentioning that stray dogs shall only be fed in such areas. Under no conditions shall the feeding of stray dogs on the street be permitted. The persons found feeding dogs on the streets in contravention of the above directions shall be liable to be proceeded against..."

Interestingly, the earlier directions to animal rights activists against obstructing the work of municipal bodies will stand, the Court said.

The Court also said that any dog lover or NGO which has approached the Court to intervene in the matter should deposit ₹25,000 and ₹2 lakh with the Court respectively for their plea to be heard.

"Each individual dog lover and NGO that has has approached this court shall deposit ₹25,000 and ₹2 lakh respectively with registry of this court within a period of seven days, failing which they shall not be allowed to appear in the matter any further," the Court directed.

Pertinently, the Court expanded the scope of the proceedings by impleading all States and Union Territories (UTs) as parties to the case.

Earlier, the matter was limited to the Delhi-NCR area.

The Court said that it will formulate a national policy after hearing the case in detail.

Towards that end, the apex court transferred all similar cases pending before various High Courts to itself.

"All similar matters shall be transferred to this court for a final national policy," the order said.

In a nutshell

- Stray dogs to be released from shelters after vaccination, deworming and sterilization;

- Dogs infected with rabies or showing aggressive behaviour not to be released;

- Feeding spaces to be created; no feeding allowed on streets;

- Action to be taken against persons found to be feeding dogs on streets;

- Each municipal authority to create dedicated helpline to report violation;

- Animal rights activists should not create obstructions;

- Each individual dog lover and NGO that has approached Supreme Court to pay ₹25,000 and ₹2 Lakh, respectively;

- No adopted dog to be returned to streets;

- Court to evolve national policy after hearing all States.

Background

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 11 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 was to be treated as contempt of court.

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 the present three-judge Bench.

Subsequently, this 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.

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