Decide Plea To Ban License For Keeping 'Dangerous Dogs' Within Three Months: Delhi High Court To Centre

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Union Government to decided expeditiously and preferably within three months a representation seeking to cancel and ban the license for keeping dogs like Pitbull, American Bulldog, Rottweiler etc. and their cross breeds which are dangerous to public at large.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna disposed of a PIL seeking ban on the said dog breeds and for stopping their registration.

The PIL was moved by a law firm, The Legal Attorneys & Barristers Law Firm, through its Associate lawyer Shubham Rakesh. Advocate Saiyed rehman Ali appeared for the petitioner.

The dog breeds mentioned in the petition are Bulldog, Rottweiler, Pitbull, Terriers, German Sheffard, Japanese Tosa, Perro de Pres Canario(Canary Dog), Argentinean Dog, Brazilian Dog, Bandog, Neapolitan Mastiff, Wolf Dog, Boerboel, Cane Corso and their dog breeds. 

It was the petitioner's case that all the above mentioned breeds are under the “Dangerous Dogs” category and are banned in more than 35 countries including India. However, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was still registering them instead of taking strictest action against the shopkeepers and dog owners.

The petitioner had sent the representation on October 05 with the Secretary of Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

During the hearing today, the counsel appearing for the Union of India stated that the said representation was forwarded to the Secretary of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying by the Animal Welfare Board of India on October 31.

It was also submitted that after consulting all the stakeholders, the Union Government will take a decision on the representation.

Noting that even the petitioner agreed with the stabd of the Central Government's counsel, the court said:

“They [Union of India] shall decide the representation as expeditiously as possible, preferably with three months.”

It added: “The petitioner shall be at liberty to file appropriate proceedings in accordance with law. The petition is accordingly disposed of.”

The PIL sought direction on the Union Government and the Delhi Government to include the dog breeds in question in the list of “dangerous dogs” and also to make a regulation to ban them.

A direction was also sought to cancel the licence for keeping such dogs and that penalty be imposed for breeding such breeds or their cross breeds.

“It is worthwhile to mention here that there are absolutely no government data or any public record which has been maintained in order to keep a track of increasing breed of dangerous dogs and easy to get these dangerous dogs to control abovementioned attacks on different means and any remedial measures inform at large by controlling or barring such kinds of dangerous dogs,” the plea states.

Title: THE LEGAL ATTORNEYS & BARRISTERS LAW FIRM (REPRESENTED THROUGH ITS ASSOCIATE ADVOCATE) v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 1237