Kerala HC seeks monthly reports from panel on compliance with SC’s stray dog directives

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday (September 16) sought monthly reports from a high-level monitoring committee on the status of compliance by civic bodies with the Supreme Court’s directives to deal with problems caused by stray dogs.

A bench of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Preeta AK directed the panel to collect details on whether stray dog management committees had been constituted by local bodies across the state.

The High Court directed the committee to ascertain whether the local bodies had complied with the government circular issued on July 31, which mandated implementation of the Supreme Court’s directives.

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The circular warned that any laxity in implementing the apex court’s directives would be viewed with extreme seriousness and that responsible officers would be held personally accountable in instances of non-compliance brought to the notice of the state government.

The High Court directed the high-level monitoring committee to ascertain the compliance status of the circular and, if it had been only partly complied with, determine the extent of non-compliance and the reasons for it.

If the circular had not been complied with at all, the reasons for the non-compliance would also have to be collected, the bench said. Besides, the panel was directed to collect details of the number of dogs euthanised by each local body.

“The details shall be collected and tabulated by the high-level monitoring committee and filed before this court by the 10th day of every month until further orders in this regard,” the bench said, and listed the matter for hearing on October 29.

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The directions came on a petition initiated by the High Court on its own, based on the Supreme Court’s directions to ensure compliance with its May 19, 2026 order.

In its order, the apex court had issued a slew of directions, including the euthanisation of rabid, incurably ill, dangerous and aggressive dogs to curb the threat to human lives.

It had directed all states and union territories to forthwith take decisive, coordinated and time-bound steps to enhance and augment the infrastructure necessary for the effective implementation of the Animal Birth Control framework.

The top court had asked states to expand their sterilisation and vaccination capacity, strengthen existing facilities and create additional institutional mechanisms commensurate with the scale and urgency of the issue.

In addition, the states were directed to ensure the establishment of at least one fully functional animal birth control centre in each district, duly equipped with the requisite veterinary infrastructure, trained personnel, surgical facilities and supporting logistics.

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