Feed strays at home — Bombay High Court
Nagpur, 21st October 2022: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court issued a warning to all animal lovers on Thursday, ordering all city authorities, including the police, to file cases against those who obstruct civic officials from acting against stray dogs if they perceive a problem.
A division bench of justices Sunil Shukre and Anil Pansare also ordered that stray dog feeding be restricted to animal activists’ homes only. “Such feeding and care shall be undertaken by anyone only after formally adopting and registering these dogs with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). A penalty shall be imposed for feeding stray dogs out of the houses of feeders.”
The bench stated that no rule or judgement will limit NMC officials’ ability to take necessary action against canines if menacing. “Based on citizen complaints, the authorities are free to capture strays and remove them from the area. They will also launch an awareness campaign by disseminating the contact information for the ‘dog control cell’.”
According to the petitioner, this is the first major decision by any HC since the Supreme Court clarified on October 12 that HCs would not be barred from hearing stray dog cases. The orders were issued during a hearing on an intervention application filed by Dhantoli Nagrik Mandal. It was filed in 2006 by social activist Vijay Talewar to control human-animal conflict with reference to strays.
The petitioner had complained about strays in the Dhantoli and Congress Nagar areas of Nagpur. They named former corporator Lakhan Yerawar, who relocated these dogs. However, activists and animal rights activists had objected to the illegal action, citing Supreme Court rulings, causing it to stop.
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