The Madras High Court on Friday enlarged the scope of a public interest litigation petition related to stray dogs inside Indian Institute of Technology - Madras (IIT-M) campus and decided to find a solution to complaints related to both stray as well as pet dogs in public places.
Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu called for suggestions from the State government, Greater Chennai Corporation, non-governmental organisations, animal lovers and others after studying the best practices followed in western countries.
During the course of hearing, the ACJ pointed out that the onus of cleaning pet dog poop was on the owners of the pets in many western countries. They were expected to carry scoopers while taking their dogs to public places but no such rules were in place here, he lamented.
He said the Greater Chennai Corporation could first come up with rules / regulations which make the pet owners accountable for the activities of their pets and then the regulations could be extended to other cities and towns as well.
The judges asked senior counsel Satish Parasaran representing People for Cattle in India, Additional Government Pleader C. Harsha Raj, Corporation counsel Karthika Ashok, advocate Naveen Kumar Murthi, animal lover S. Muralidharan and others to give their suggestions by February 9.
Earlier, when the Bench dealt with the issue of stray dogs inside IIT-M campus, the Corporation counsel informed the court that about 23 strays were shifted from the campus and left under the care of a NGO as per the directions issued by the court last month.
When Mr. Parasaran insisted that the stray dogs must be brought back to the IIT-M campus, the ACJ pointed out that the institute was not able to let the stray dogs roam around freely on its campus only because they were causing harm to the blackbucks.
He directed a senior counsel representing IIT-M to also file complete details regarding the issue during the next hearing of the case.
