Chennai: Madras high court on Monday suo motu initiated proceeding to monitor implementation of Supreme Court directives to tackle the stray dog menace in the country, including sterilisation, vaccination and removal of the animals from premises of courts, schools, hospitals and parks.The first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan directed the state govt to file in four week a comprehensive report explaining the steps taken to implement the directions of the apex court. The proceeding was initiated in view of a recent order passed by the apex court.Recently, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court had observed that compassion for animal life, howsoever important, cannot be interpreted in a manner that compels citizens to endure recurring threats to their own lives, safety and bodily integrity. “When the safety and lives of human beings are weighed against the interests and welfare of sentient beings, the constitutional balance must necessarily and unequivocally tilt in favour of the preservation and protection of human life,” the bench said.Relying on the data on dog bites shared by several states, the bench said that the reason for the problem reaching such a high magnitude is the failure on part of the state govts in implementing the animal birth control (ABC) framework effectively even after two decades since its formulation in 2001.As to the contentions of animal welfare activists that dogs picked up for sterilisation must be re-released in the same locality, the apex court said, such dogs do not possess an indefeasible or absolute right to be re-released in the same places from where they were picked up and that they should be transferred only to animal shelters.The court then requested all the high courts to initiate suo motu proceedings to monitor proper implementation of its orders in states and Union territories.
