Stray dog menace: Punjab and Haryana HC transfers plea to Supreme Court

The contempt proceedings were initiated in 2023 against Chandigarh authorities for alleged non-compliance. Abhilaksh Gaind, who represented the Malerkotla Municipal council, says the prayer was later expanded to cover the states of Punjab and Haryana as well, bringing dozens of municipal bodies from across the two states into the ambit of the case.

The matter gained urgency when, in September 2023, Additional District and Sessions Judge, Ambala, Phalit Sharma, wrote a formal representation complaining that stray dogs had made it difficult for him and his colleagues to carry out their work. In his letter, he stated:

“Since shifting into the allotted house, undersigned got oneself saved from stray dogs’ attack twice and official staff also faced the same attack… even general public at large including people moving on two wheelers are commonly experiencing such horrifying experience. … I am feeling unsafe because of the total defiance of local authorities concerned against repeated directions of Hon’ble High Court to check this menace.”

The judge added that despite repeated requests to the Deputy Commissioner and Municipal Commissioner, Ambala, no effective action had been taken. He warned that in the name of compassion for dogs, “lives of human beings are not to be sacrificed,” urging the High Court to step in with necessary directions.

On September 11, Justice Vikas Bahl recorded that the petitions essentially sought implementation of the April 2015 order. He noted that the Supreme Court, in a suo motu writ petition decided on August 22, 2025, had directed that all states and Union Territories be impleaded through their Animal Husbandry and local bodies’ secretaries, and that pending high court matters on stray dogs be transferred to itself.

Accordingly, the High Court directed its Registry to forward the case files to the Supreme Court, so that they can be heard along with its ongoing proceedings on the stray dog menace.

The matter is now expected to be taken up by the apex court after eight weeks, when compliance reports from states and Union Territories are scheduled to be reviewed.

From the homepage

US revoked visas of Indian business executives over link to fentanyl trade: Embassy

‘I respect all religions’: CJI Gavai on critical social media posts over his comments in Khajuraho case

France’s Macron to submit ‘photographic, scientific evidence’ that wife Brigitte is a woman