Walking around the desert state of Rajasthan, you may not see little paws running towards you with love in their eyes or bitches protecting their puppies in the harsh winter anymore, as the High Court orders the removal of stray dogs and other animals from city roads. The Rajasthan High Court passed this direction in a suo motu plea, wherein the court took cognisance of dog bite incidents and the menace of stray animals causing deaths in the state.

This comes after the Supreme Court on Monday ordered all stray dogs to be removed from Delhi-NCR localities following repeated instances of dog bites leading to deaths. The order extends to Noida, Gurugram and Ghaziabad.

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On August 11, the Rajasthan High Court directed municipal bodies to remove stray dogs and other animals from city roads while ensuring that minimum physical harm is caused to them.

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The court clarified that anyone who comes in the way of the municipal bodies from removing stray animals from the roads/colonies/public paths, will face action. Municipal officials and employees have been given a free hand to act, including lodging First Information Report (FIR) against people coming in the way of their work, obstructing public servants from performing their duties.

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A division bench of Justice Kuldeep Mathur and Justice Ravi Chirania, while issuing a slew of directions, said, “The Municipal bodies shall also undertake a special drive to remove stray dogs and other animals from city roads while ensuring that minimum physical harm is caused to them. If an individual or a group of persons obstruct the employees of Municipalities from discharging their duties in removing the stray animals from the roads/colonies/public paths, then Municipal Officials/employees will be free to take appropriate action against them under the relevant Municipal Laws including lodging of the FIRs for obstructing public servants from performing their duties.”

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Immediate action is sought from Jodhpur Municipal Corporation in removing stray animals from the premises of AIIMS, Jodhpur and the district court – the two places that witness heavy footfall.

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The National Highways Authority and the State Highways Authority is directed to regularly patrol highways and ensure free vehicular movements.

The court also asked the Municipal Corporation to release numbers or email addresses for citizens to lodge complaints against stray animals.

In case any citizen wants to feed stray animals, they shall do so at the shelter home or cattle ponds, the court added.

“We expect from the general public that if due to their sentiments or religious believes or for love towards the animals, they want to feed them or offer food or take care of them, then they shall perform such activities at dog shelters and cattle ponds/ Gaushalas maintained by the Municipalities or private individual/organization,” the court said.

The Additional Advocate General (AAG) has been asked to file a detailed report on the condition and maintenance of dog shelters and cattle ponds.

The matter is listed next for September 8.