NEW DELHI: The CJI B R Gavai on Wednesday late evening constituted a three-judge bench to hear the stray dog case matter on August 14, Thursday, after it was told by an organisation that the orders passed by this court on many occasions in the past relating to stray dogs were different and conflicting in nature.It is to be noted that this case was different from the two-judge bench which passed the order on August 11 to remove the Delhi-NCR stray dogs and send them to shelters within eight weeks.The fresh three-judge bench, which will hear the stray dogs matter on Thursday, will be headed by Justice Vikram Nath, and will also comprise Justices Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria.The court decided to hear the case on Thursday, after it heard a mentioning in the morning on Wednesday by a lawyer, Nanita Sharma.She mentioned the matter before the bench of the top court, led by CJI Gavai, that two benches of the apex court had earlier passed different and conflicting orders on the stray dogs issue and that the court should hear the matter and clarify the confusion.After hearing this, the CJI said, in the morning, “I will look into it.”He assured the lawyer that the court would examine the ongoing issue relating to community/stray dogs, as she claimed that there were different and conflicting orders on the stray dogs issue by this court.Sharma, for an organisation named The Conference for Human Rights (India), mentioned before the bench of the top court, also comprising Justice K Vinod Chandran, that this was with regard to the community dogs issue.”There is an earlier judgment of this court, of a bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Sanjay Karol, which says there cannot be indiscriminate killing of canines and that compassion for all living beings has to be there,” the lawyer submitted.She also said that recently, two days ago, there was an order passed by a bench headed by Justice JB Pardiwala, which had ordered relocation of the stray dogs in Delhi to dog shelters. Another order was passed by Justice JK Maheshwari-led bench in May 2024, whereby the petitions relating to the stray dog issue were relegated to the respective High Courts, she contended.After hearing these submissions, the apex court said it will look into the case, as the CJI also added that another bench recently has already passed an order in relation to stray dogs.On August 11, a bench of Justices Pardiwala and R Mahadevan ordered the Delhi-NCR to start removing stray dogs from all localities within eight weeks and house them in dedicated dog shelters to be set up by civic authorities.
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