The Supreme Court’s stray dogs orders all come from one case: Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No. 5 of 2025, In Re: “City Hounded by Strays, Kids Pay Price”. Four orders matter most. Together they decide where dogs that are picked up go back to, where they may be fed, and which places must be kept free of stray dogs.
How the case began
On a bench of two judges took up the case on its own, after a Times of India report from Delhi of the same name. On that bench ordered the authorities in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad to pick up stray dogs, build shelters, sterilise and vaccinate the dogs under the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023, and not release them back onto the streets.
22 Aug 2025: dogs go back to their area
A bench of three judges, Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N. V. Anjaria, changed the August 11 order. Read the judgment in the Library.
- Dogs that are picked up are sterilised, dewormed, vaccinated and released back to the same area. The ban on release was kept in abeyance.
- Dogs with rabies, or suspected rabies, and dogs that show aggressive behaviour are sterilised and immunised but not released.
- Each municipal ward must have dedicated feeding spaces, with notice boards. Feeding stray dogs on the streets is not permitted.
- Each municipal authority must create a helpline to report violations.
- Anyone who wants to adopt a street dog can apply to the municipal body. The adopter must make sure the dog does not return to the streets.
- The case was widened to all states and union territories.
For what this means for people who feed dogs, read feeding community dogs: what the law says and what to do if your RWA or society stops you feeding dogs.
7 Nov 2025: schools, hospitals, stations and highways
The same three judges gave further directions. Read our news summary of the order.
- Educational institutions, hospitals, sports complexes, bus stands and depots, and railway stations must be fenced or otherwise secured against stray dogs, preferably within eight weeks. Each must name a nodal officer.
- The municipal body must remove stray dogs found inside these premises to a shelter, after sterilisation and vaccination. These dogs are not released back to the same place.
- Every government and private hospital must keep anti-rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin in stock at all times.
- Cattle and other stray animals must be removed from national and state highways and expressways and kept in shelters, gaushalas or cattle pounds, with food, water and veterinary care. Highways must show helpline numbers.
- The Animal Welfare Board of India had to issue Standard Operating Procedures for institutional premises within four weeks. It issued them on .
19 May 2026: the orders stand, and High Courts take over
The three judges dismissed the applications that asked them to change or recall the directions, and the challenges to the Board’s Standard Operating Procedures. Read our news summary of the judgment.
- Every district must have at least one fully working Animal Birth Control centre.
- States and union territories must decide whether to extend the directions to other busy public places.
- Where dog bites have become frequent, authorities may, after assessment by qualified vets and only as the law allows, take measures including euthanasia of rabid, incurably ill or dangerous dogs.
- Officials who carry out the orders in good faith are protected from criminal cases, except where there is a prima facie case of bad faith or gross abuse of authority.
- Each High Court must register its own case to monitor compliance in its state. States and union territories were to file compliance affidavits before their High Courts by .
The Supreme Court will next hear the case on , to receive the High Courts’ reports.
What councils were told to do
The Animal Welfare Board of India asked for strict compliance with these directions, its Standard Operating Procedures and the ABC Rules in a circular of . Read the circular in the Library. For how sterilisation and release work, read what the ABC Rules 2023 say about community dogs.
Questions and answers
This guide is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
- Supreme Court of India: order of , 2025 INSC 1018 (quotes the directions) (read ; also in our Library)
- Supreme Court of India: order of , 2025 INSC 1357 (read )
- Supreme Court of India: judgment of , 2026 INSC 506 (read ; paras 75, 76, 85, 108, 111 and 114)
- Animal Welfare Board of India: circular of (our Library)
