Gurgaon Civic Body Modifies Order After First Notice ‘Misinterpreted’ by Public

Following the ‘misinterpretation’ of an order pertaining to unregistered dogs in the city, the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) has refined and modified it.

The previously issues public notice stated that any unregistered dogs who are taken into custody are “liable to be destroyed or otherwise disposed of” unless they are claimed. The phrasing of this order sparked fury amongst the public, who assuming the worst thought that unregistered dogs would be euthanized.

The new order is clearer in its wording while addressing the issue, with the modified order now reading that dogs not registered will be “detained at a place to be specified by the commissioner” unless a fee is paid and the dog is claimed within 7 days.

The city’s Municipal Corporation also modified a portion of the earlier issued order, which now states that It will “…fix the fee which shall be charged for such detention and provide that any such dog shall be detained at a place to be specified by the commissioner unless it is claimed and the fee in respect thereof is paid within one week.”

With the exception of a change in phrasing, the rest of the notice has not been changed. The contents of the rest of the notice outlined the registration mandate, the conduct that must be followed by dogs & their owners in public, how to clean up after your dog on walks, and how not complying with these rules would mean the dog being detained.

Following protests by dog owners against the MCG and claims that the new notice was unnecessarily arbitrary, officials said the order was misinterpreted by the public. “We have modified the notification in the recent public notice,” said an MCG official.