Supreme Court Justice Vikram Nath spoke in a casual and humorous way about the unique reason behind his international recognition. During the “Regional Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict” held in Thiruvananthapuram , he explained how a high profile case involving stray dogs in Delhi made him the subject of international attention.

“I am thankful to the stray dogs for making me known…not only in this country but the world over,” he remarked in a light-hearted manner, as reported by Live Law. Through this statement, he underlined his role in the three-member bench that heard the important case.

Justice Nath said that while till now he was known only for his limited work in the legal world, now he has got recognition in the wider civil society as well. He credited this particular case for this.

Along with this, he also shared that he is getting messages not only from dog lovers but also from the dogs themselves, “blessings and good wishes”. He also thanked the Chief Justice of India B. R. Gavai, who assigned this case to him.

He said that while attending the ‘Law Asia POLA Summit’ recently, the heads of the foreign lawyers’ association asked him questions about this case, which made him feel proud that people outside India also know him now.

On August 22, a bench headed by Justice Nath stayed an order of August 11, which banned the release of stray dogs caught in Delhi-NCR. The new bench ruled that these dogs should be released back to their earlier places after vaccination and sterilization. The case was assigned to Justice Nath when there was widespread protest across the country against the earlier order, in which it was termed inhuman and impractical. Nath’s bench found a balanced solution to this.

Justice Vikram Nath is second in line to become the next Chief Justice of India after the current Chief Justice B. R. Gavai and is likely to assume the post in the year 2027 after Justice Surya Kant.