NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to allow Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s request to exempt Chief Secretaries of states and Union Territories from appearing in person in the stray dog menace case.
The two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta, said that there was no respect for the order of the court, as it made it clear that the Chief Secretaries will have to appear physically before the court on November 3.
"When we require them to come and file compliance affidavit, they are just sleeping over it. No respect for the order of the court. Then alright, Let them come, we will deal with them," Justice Nath said.
The court noted that it is trying to solve the issues which should be solved by the state governments.
The top court also rejected the plea of the Solicitor General requesting direction from the court to allow the Chief Secretaries to appear through video conferencing mode.
"Sorry, they have to come physically to the court," the Court said.
This comes a day after the Supreme Court rejected the Bihar government’s plea seeking exemption for the state’s Chief Secretary from personal appearance in the case.
The court also expressed displeasure, observing that it was unfortunate to be wasting time on issues that should have been addressed by the Municipal Corporation and state governments over the years.
It noted that although Parliament frames rules, no action is taken.
Earlier, on October 27, the Supreme Court directed the Chief Secretaries of almost all states and Union Territories to appear before it on November 3 to explain why no compliance affidavits have been filed yet in the stray dogs case.
"Your officers don't read newspapers? They don't read social media? They want a formal notice to be issued to them?" the bench, led by Justice Nath had said.
Bihar and many other states allegedly failed to file the compliance affidavit in the case following which, the top court decided to direct those state's Chief Secretaries for their personal presence in it on November 3.
It said all chief secretaries, except those of Telangana and West Bengal, should be present before it on November 3. otherwise, "we will hold the court in auditorium," it said.
The court had, on August 22, reversed its earlier order directing the authorities to move all stray dogs to shelters and said they can be released to the same area from where they were captured after proper sterilisation and immunisation, except those infected with rabies or exhibiting aggressive behaviour. It barred the feeding of the dogs in public places.
The August 22 order expanded the scope of the stray dogs case beyond the Delhi NCR and directed that all states and Union Territories be made parties in the matter, and instructed them to file compliance affidavits.
