Once again, the Supreme Court  reprimanded the secretaries of states and union territories over the issue of stray dogs and directed them to appear physically before the court.

Rejecting the plea by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta seeking exemption for the chief secretaries from personal appearance in the case, the bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta denied permission for virtual attendance, expressing displeasure that court orders had not been followed. The bench stated, “No, they will have to appear physically.”

The court expressed strong disappointment, saying it was unfortunate that valuable court time was being spent on matters that municipal bodies and state governments should have resolved years ago. “Parliament makes rules, but no action is taken. We asked for compliance affidavits to be filed, but they are all asleep! There is no respect for court orders! Now they must appear and explain why the affidavits were not submitted and then file them,” the bench remarked.

Solicitor General Mehta informed the court that the affidavits had been filed, but the bench noted that during the last hearing, only three affidavits were on record—meaning the rest must have been filed later. As per its previous order dated October 27, the Supreme Court had summoned the chief secretaries of all states and union territories (except West Bengal and Telangana) for failing to submit reports on the implementation of the Animal Birth Control Rules.

Only West Bengal, Telangana, and the Delhi Municipal Corporation had filed affidavits as per the court’s August 22 order. Therefore, the court directed the remaining chief secretaries to appear personally on Monday to explain the non-compliance. The bench also observed that no lawyer or representative from the non-complying states was present during the hearing. Expressing displeasure, Justice Nath said that all states and union territories had been served notices, and the order was also published in the media, yet they failed to appear.