Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has asked Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation(SMC) to inform it about the steps taken to deal with menace of dog biting and furnish details of sterilisation centers established in Srinagar City.
As a Public interest Litigation(PIL) came up for hearing before a division bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Puneet Gupta, counsel appearing for the government and SMC sought four weeks time to file the compliance report in terms of the previous directions. Subsequently the court granted the four weeks’ time.
“Respondent no. 2(Commissioner SMC) in the objections shall indicate the steps taken to deal with the menace of dog biting and details of sterilisation centers, they have established in the city of Srinagar,” the bench said.
In its earlier order, the court had sought to know about the number of stray dogs roaming in the city of Srinagar.
The Commissioner was also required to submit the details about the issue of animal birth control and setting up of anti-rabies centers.
While the Court had asked the Commissioner to submit the action plan of the Corporation for containing the menace of stray dogs and particularly dog bites as also the spread of rabies, he was ordered to report as to whether public advisories were issued in Print and Electronic Media, indicating the Do’s and Don’ts, in order to avoid dog bites.
Authorities had also been asked to indicate the steps taken for dealing with the complaints filed by the various persons, social activists and victims about the dog bites.
In their plea before the court, the petitioners-law students of Central University of Kashmir- based on the details collected from different sources contend that nearly 90,000 stray dogs are roaming in Srinagar city only. “There have been several instances about the death of some minor children attacked by the stray dogs at different places in and around the City,” they plead.