Delhi High Court Pulls Up Authorities Over Failure to Control Illegal Dog Breeding

New Delhi: On Wednesday, the New Delhi High Court pulled up the relevant authorities over a failure to control illegal dog breeding practices in the capital, noting the “bad name” pet lovers and pet parents get due to incidents of dog bites. 

A bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela termed it a sad state of affairs, asking the secretary in the Animal Husbandry Department to file an affidavit listing the measures taken so far and the future steps to reduce the practice of illegal dog breeding. 

The court noted that none of the status reports that were filed regarding this issue were placed on record in 2018, which demonstrates the steps taken by the authorities towards curbing this practice. "It is a very sad state of affairs. The administration has not taken steps to check and control illegal dog breeding," it said. 

The court was hearing a six-year-old PIL seeking to stop the illegal dog breeding practices in Delhi and questioned the government over the steps taken by it, noting that dog lovers were getting a “bad name” due to an increase in dog bite cases.

"Just go to RML Hospital and see how many dog bite cases are reported on a daily basis. The monthly number is in a few thousand. The city is taken over by dogs and monkeys," the bench said. 

The court said that if it was unsatisfied with the response filed by the secretary, it would request the chief secretary to take appropriate action against those responsible. "We will ask the chief secretary to take action," the court cautioned, "this illegal business must stop. Your officers can't be involved in illegal dog breeding". 

The matter will next be heard on December 5.