The Gujarat High Court has directed the state government to submit complete district-wise data on stray dog sterilisation and vaccination after the government presented information from only 17 districts. The court has sought further details on the remaining districts, the vaccines being used and their possible side effects, with the next hearing scheduled for the following week.
The matter was heard by a bench led by the Acting Chief Justice after the state government filed an affidavit on steps taken to control stray dogs and cattle in compliance with directions issued by the Supreme Court. Under those directions, the chief secretary of the concerned department is required to coordinate with municipal corporations and municipalities and obtain periodic reports on the action taken.
During the hearing, advocate Medha Jani, appearing for the petitioner, objected to the limited data submitted by the government. She said the state had presented figures supplied by municipal corporations but had not provided information on how many dogs had been sterilised and vaccinated in each district during the previous six months.
The petitioner also argued that the government needed to clearly explain the measures being taken to control the stray dog population. The High Court sought additional information on the type of vaccine administered to the dogs, the company that manufactured it and whether any side effects had been reported.
The state government told the court that some districts do not currently have Animal Birth Control, or ABC, centres. It said direct data from those districts was therefore unavailable. According to the government, Vadodara has substantial infrastructure and capacity for dog sterilisation, and stray dogs from surrounding districts had been transported there for the procedure.
The government said this was why some districts had been shown with zero figures in the submitted data. It clarified that a zero entry did not necessarily mean that no sterilisation had taken place in those districts. The state also claimed that sterilisation work had been carried out across all districts.
The court questioned how the state would respond if it had to submit the same information before the Supreme Court while showing zero figures for some districts. The exchange highlighted the difference between recording activity according to the location of an ABC centre and recording it according to the district from which the animals were brought.
The government further told the court that inspections and related work had been undertaken at 79,150 government and public institutions across Gujarat. These included schools, anganwadis, hospitals, bus depots and gram panchayat offices. It said stray dogs had been vaccinated and sterilised in these areas and that six or seven additional nodal officers had been appointed to manage the work.
The state claimed that regular inspections were being conducted and that the number of stray dogs had not increased on the premises of these institutions after sterilisation and vaccination activities. It also said that 114 educational institutions had been made completely free of stray dogs.
The government sought additional time to collect complete information from all districts and submit it to the High Court. The court granted time and fixed the next hearing for the following week, when the state is expected to present the fuller data and additional details sought during the proceedings.
