SRINAGAR, OCT 19: Observing that stray dogs cause serious inconvenience and harm to the general public, the High Court of J&K and Ladakh has directed authorities in Srinagar as well as Ladakh to file an action taken report by November 01.
Hearing a bunch of Public Interest Litigations, a division bench of Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi asked Srinagar Municipal Corporation to file a detailed report regarding action taken including the census report of the dogs, incidents of dog bites and measures taken to deal with such menace.
“Though a detailed report has been furnished, it appears to be more of a proposed action rather than the action already taken,” the court said, adding, “We therefore, direct the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) to file a detailed report as to the action already taken including the census report of the dogs, the report regarding incidents of dog bites and the steps taken by the authorities to deal with such menace by the next date of hearing (November 1)”.
It also directed the authorities in Ladakh to inform it about the steps undertaken by them to prevent “serious inconvenience and harm caused by stray dogs” in Leh and Kargil.
“A status report with regard to course of action taken, was submitted in order to mitigate the problems being faced by the general public due to which serious inconvenience and harm caused by stray dogs and accordingly, this Court took cognizance of such course of action to be taken by the respondent-authorities and the same is reflected in our order dated 17 May 2023 with the direction to the respondent-authorities to strictly adhere to the said course of action in terms of status report submitted before this Court,” the court said. However, the court said, no compliance report has been submitted till date before despite directions by it.
Accordingly, the court directed the authorities to file a detailed affidavit as to the steps undertaken by them with necessary data and figures, without any fail, on or before the next date of hearing. “We also make it clear that failure to submit the detailed affidavit will entail appropriate action from this Court,” the court said.
