NGO files caveat in SC on stray dogs' issue

MUMBAI: After the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai's (MCGM) proposed to move the Supreme Court for obtaining permission to kill the stray dogs, a city-based NGO, 'In Defence of Animals', has filed a caveat in the apex court,saying that no order should be passed without hearing it.

The Bombay High Court, in an order in April this year, had asked the MCGM to shift the stray dogs outside the city, building special shelters for them.

The court had also asked the authorities to form a monitoring committee to look into all the pertaining the stray dogs, including their sterilisation.

Following the order passed by a full bench, MCGM dentified two locations for shifting the stray dogs.

However, the newly-appointed Commissioner of Mumbai, Jairaj Phatak, revealed in a press conference earlier this month that MCGM thinks that it is better to kill the dogs than to shift them.

According to Corporation's estimate, there are some five lakh dogs in the city. "Killing the stray dogs is the only feasible option considering their population," he told the reporters. He also substantiated the stand by mentioning that killing stray dogs was a practice all over the world.

Phatak said that the Corporation had submitted to the High Court during an earlier hearing that killing the dogs was the only solution.

He also said that MCGM was contemplating moving the apex court on this issue.