HC displeased by poor state of MCD-run dog sterilisation centres

Annoyed at the poor state of dog sterilisation centres run by municipal corporations in Delhi, the high court today asked the director of veterinary services of the three MCDs to remain present before it during the next hearing on Wednesday.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued the direction after a panel of lawyers it had appointed to inspect the centres told the court about the pathetic conditions and a lack of facilities in most of them.

Delhi government's additional standing counsel Naushad Ahmed Khan, who headed the inspection team, told the bench that the centres has no facility to dispose animal carcasses and surgical waste.

Another matter of concern was lack of cleanliness at the centres, he told the court.

At one of the five centres inspected by the team, Khan said, they found surgeries, including sterilisation, were done in the kitchen, which was being used as an operation theatre.

Animal right activist Gauri Maulekhi told the bench that on the orders of the Supreme Court the Animal Welfare Board of India has drafted a module for management of dog population and eradication of rabies.

She said the module has to be followed by local bodies undertaking the exercise of sterilisation and immunisation of canines.

After hearing the submissions, the court asked the director of veterinary services of the three corporations to remain present on the next date of hearing on April 25.

The bench was hearing a PIL by a resident of Tekhand Village in south Delhi. The petitioner has opposed the setting up of a veterinary hospital there on the grounds that a bigger and better facility exists in Tughlakabad village.