'Wasting court's time: SC slams states in street dogs case
What's the story
The Supreme Court has ordered the Chief Secretaries of all states and Union Territories (UTs), except West Bengal and Telangana, to appear physically in court on November 3. The court is hearing a suo motu case filed on July 28 in response to a media report on stray dog bites, mainly among children, in the national capital. The order was passed by a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, who expressed their displeasure over non-compliance with earlier directives.
Compliance issues
Court annoyed over non-compliance
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought the physical appearance exemption of chief secretaries of states/UTs. Justice Nath refused, saying, "No, let them come physically. It's very unfortunate that Court is wasting time here trying to deal with the problems...Parliament frames rules, no action is taken." The court was particularly annoyed that only West Bengal, Telangana and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had filed compliance affidavits as per its August 22 directions.
Election concerns
Bihar's exemption request rejected
On Thursday, the Supreme Court had also rejected Bihar's request to exempt its Chief Secretary from appearing on November 3 due to upcoming assembly elections. The court said, "There is Election Commission which would take care. Don't worry. Let the chief secretary come." It said the chief secretary does not have to do anything in the state election, which will be held on November 6 and 11.
Affidavit submission
Court's earlier directions to states
The court had earlier directed chief secretaries to explain why compliance affidavits were not filed. It also slammed states and UTs for failing to respond, saying continuous incidents were happening and the country was being "shown as down" in foreign nations. "The chief secretaries of all the states and union territories...shall remain present before this court on November 3 at 10:30am along with their respective explanations as to why compliance affidavits have not been filed," the bench had said.
Nationwide action
Case expanded to all states, UTs
On August 22, the Supreme Court expanded the case's scope beyond the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) and directed all states and UTs to comply with Animal Birth Control Rules. It had directed municipal authorities to file an affidavit of compliance with complete statistics of resources such as dog pounds, veterinarians, dog-catching personnel, and specially modified vehicles and cages available as of the date for the purpose of complying with the ABC regulations.