Refrain from taking harsh action against stray dogs till SC decision final: CM Rekha Gupta to officials

Mega sterilisation drive likely soon in Capital

Written by Gayathri Mani

New Delhi | August 19, 2025 06:10 AM IST

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta

Stay on “watch and ward” mode and refrain from taking any harsh action against the stray dogs — this is what Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has told all the departments concerned after the Supreme Court heard pleas related to the issue last week, according to sources. While a two-judge bench had issued a directive on August 11 to remove all stray dogs from streets across Delhi-NCR, a three-judge bench on August 14 reserved the order on pleas amid outrage over the directive.

“A meeting was held recently, and the Chief Minister has strictly issued directions to all officers concerned to not take any kind of harsh action that may hurt the sentiments of dog lovers or harm the dogs. Until the Supreme Court delivers a final decision, the government will stay on ‘watch and ward’ mode,” said a senior official.

Officials said that the government has decided not to pick up any stray dogs for now. Instead, a mega sterilisation campaign is being planned, and a firm will soon be hired to carry it out.

“Tenders will be floated soon, and the selected firm will conduct the campaign, sterilising dogs on a daily basis. The number of dogs to be picked up per day and other modalities will be decided soon,” said an official. Even as the last dog census was held in 2016, the estimated population of dogs in the Capital is around eight lakh.

According to a senior government official, the current practice, as per the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, is to pick up stray dogs, take them for sterilisation, and then release them back to the same locations from where they were picked.

However, SC last week directed the Delhi government, civic bodies, and authorities in Noida, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad to pick up stray dogs and move them to shelters. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan had asked the authorities to build shelters, and report the creation of infrastructure to the court within eight weeks.“The creation of infrastructure will take time… Work is underway to identify suitable locations to build shelter homes for dogs,” the official said.

The BJP government may also introduce a new policy or amend the existing one if required, officials added.

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