BENGALURU: Noting that the duty cast upon the citizens who are feeding stray dogs in unidentified places should not cause any disturbance or health hazard to fellow citizens, the Karnataka High Court observed that no citizen came forward to assist the local administration in the yearly vaccination and sterilization of stray dogs, or to assist the animal welfare organisations in providing them health care.
The division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit made this observation while referring to the guidelines on pet dogs and street dogs issued by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), which suggests the participation of people who feed stray dogs, in the sterilisation and vaccination of dogs, during the hearing of the petition filed by advocate Ramesh Naik L seeking directions to implement the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules 2001, and AWBI guidelines.
The court noted that this petition was filed in May 2022, and time was granted to the state government to file a statement of objection as a last chance in January 2023. But till today, no statement has been filed.
“We are surprised to see this approach of the state government and we can safely say that the state government’s non-responsive approach not only results in delay but is also an embarrassment for the law officers representing the state before the court. The state government is expected to mend its ways and to see that the instructions are provided to the law officers so that necessary responses are filed in this court within reasonable time”, the court said.
The government advocate sought further time to file a statement, saying that some district administrations and local bodies had failed to submit their response. The court granted three weeks time with a warning that it would pass orders against the state government if a statement was not filed.