New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to issue any clarification on its recent judgment that permitted authorities to euthanise rabid, incurably ill and demonstrably dangerous stray dogs in areas where frequent attacks are taking place.
An NGO named ‘Animals Are People Too’ had moved an application seeking clarification that the top court’s May 19 ruling should not be construed as permitting indiscriminate culling of stray dogs.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta refused to entertain the application, observing that public statements or media reports could not become grounds for the Supreme Court to repeatedly revisit or clarify its judgment.
“If the Chief Minister makes a statement, does that mean we need to change our order?” the court said after the NGO’s counsel referred to statements allegedly made by Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann about eliminating stray dogs.
The court said that anyone with grievances was free to approach the jurisdictional high courts since all high courts in the country had been directed to initiate suo motu monitoring proceedings concerning implementation of the stray dog management framework.
Advocate Anil Kumar Mishra, who represented the NGO, submitted that the Supreme Court’s May 19 judgment was being misunderstood by authorities and implemented contrary to law. He referred to media reports about removal of dogs from educational institutions and statements by political persons suggesting a broad mandate to eliminate stray dogs.
Declining to entertain the plea, the bench said: “We have already permitted the high courts to continue monitoring the matter.”
