The Telangana High Court on Thursday questioned Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials on the continued wandering of stray dogs on the streets, despite their claims that the animals were moved to shelters and sterilised.
While hearing a suo motu public interest petition over the death of a four-year-old boy, in an attack by stray dogs in Amberpet last month, a bench of chief justice Ujjal Bhuyan and justice N. Tukaramji asked GHMC counsel Katika Ravindhar Reddy, “Don’t dogs ever bite you (GHMC staff)?”
The court had previously ordered the civic body to submit details of the steps they had taken to reduce the number of stray dogs roaming the city.
As per an affidavit submitted on Thursday by Katika Ravindhar Reddy, counsel for GHMC, shelter houses were prepared to relocate the animals while Ravindhar Reddy also told the court that sterilisation was an ongoing process.
The bench of judges further held, “Such situations should not occur in a civilised community,” when Ravindhar Reddy informed Rs 8 lakh has been paid as compensation to the family of Pradeep, the victim of a stray dog attack in Amberpet.
Meanwhile, in the suo moto case, advocate Mamidi Venu Madhav filed an impleading petition claiming that Animal Birth Control for stray dogs has been taking place since 1996, using sterilisation and other methods, and that millions of dollars have been spent on it.
“Nevertheless, no beneficial outcomes have been noticed thus far,” the advocate said, accusing bureaucrats of swindling the money.
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An advocate Venu Madhav told the court that such incidents of dog attacks resulting in the death of innocent children occur only because authorities appear to intervene but fail to act.
The court granted the implead motion and directed the member-secretary of the Telangana State Legal Services Authority to visit the GHMC-managed stray dog shelter homes and submit a report by June 8.
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