Madras High Court Stays Centre's Notification Banning Import, Breeding Of “Dangerous & Ferocious” Dog Breeds

Justice Anita Sumanth granted the interim stay on a plea filed by the Kennel Club of India seeking to quash the central government's circular.

On March 12, 2014, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Department of the Government of India issued a circular saying that an expert committee had recommended a ban on the import breeding, and selling of certain breeds of dogs classified as ferocious and dangerous to human life. The circular further said that the dogs which were already kept as pets shall be sterilized to stop further breeding.

The club said the circular was issued pursuant to an order of the Delhi High Court. The club argued that the High Court had, in unequivocally held that all stakeholders had to be consulted before taking an action. However, the Kennel Club of India, being a major stakeholder, and chapters all over the world were not consulted or heard.

The club argued that to identify a particular breed of dog to be ferocious and dangerous to human life required profound expertise for identification and to see whether the dogs were appropriately trained or not. The club submitted that no such expertise had been gone into it while passing the circular.

The Club submitted that the circular was totally illegal and unlawful and was neither sustainable in law nor facts.

The club submitted that a dog with caring and responsible owners never gets ferocious and is not dangerous to human beings. It was submitted that dog attacks and casualties are mostly caused by stray and feral dogs and not by purebred dogs. Thus, claiming that banning of certain breeds of dogs was illogical and illegal, the club sought to set aside the circular.

Case Title: The Kennel Club of India v The Union of India and Others

Case No: WP 8927 of 2024