Mumbai: The Centre on Friday submitted before the Bombay High Court that it is not acting on a March 2024 notification banning 23 ‘ferocious dog breeds‘ across India and that it issued a public notice on May 2, 2024, inviting suggestions and objections.
The HC had last year issued notice to the Centre in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) called Animal Rescue Trust. The NGO, through advocate Akshay Deshmukh, challenged a March 12, 2024, circular by the union animal husbandry ministry banning such breeds and also their breeding and sale. The breeds included Pitbull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Dogo Argentino, American Bulldog, among others. The notification, it said, was issued on grounds of public safety and a series of deaths following serious dog bites.
The state, through its additional govt pleader Omkar Chandurkar, said that it formed district societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals (DSPCA) in 36 districts in 2021. The HC CJ Alok Aradhe and Justice Bharati Dangre had asked the state to inform on the next date if these bodies were functional, after Deshmukh said they were yet to be.
Then CJ Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor issued notice after hearing advocate Deshmukh for the petitioner, Vineeta Tandon of Animal Rescue Trust, who said the circular was issued without speaking to stakeholders, including BSPCA, Animal Welfare Board of India, and even breeders.
In any case, the HC last year noted that two high courts, Calcutta and Madras, stayed the circular last March. The Calcutta HC order was of March 21, 2024, and the Madras HC stay was on March 28, 2024.
While the PIL said the circular was issued without any “scientific proof” and based only “on a few incidents of dog bites”, the Centre earlier said the department constituted an expert panel with members from various stakeholder organisations and experts before identifying the breeds to ban “as ferocious which are dangerous for human life”.
On Friday, the Centre informed a division bench that it would take a suitable decision, after considering all objections. The HC has adjourned the matter for two weeks.