SHC irked by delay in framing by-laws for stray dogs

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday took exception to the delay in the framing of by-laws for dealing with the matter of stray dogs under the Sindh Local Government Act 2013, directing the LG secretary to appear before the court to explain why its order was not complied with.

Hearing a petition calling for the control of the population of stray dogs and demanding the availability of free anti-rabies vaccine, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar asked the provincial law officer about the framing of by-laws to deal with stray dogs and that why they had not been framed yet.

The bench said that the court had issued clear directions to the LG secretary to frame the by-laws within six weeks in view of the provisions contained in the LG Act with regard to stray dogs, but they had not been framed despite the order.

The additional advocate general said that the additional LG secretary had been informed but he had not appeared before the court. The bench directed the LG secretary to appear in person and explain the by-laws had not been framed yet.

The counsel representing Karachi’s district municipal corporations and cantonment boards said that they were making all-out efforts to implement the orders of the court to control stray dogs in their respective jurisdictions to protect the public. The bench directed the LG secretary to update the court with regard to the shelter home for dogs, for which the PC-I was approved, and the present status of its construction before adjourning the hearing until March 3.

Previous hearings

On December 2 the SHC had directed the LG secretary to frame the by-laws in the larger public interest within 45 days. Justice Mazhar had asked him why the by-laws to deal with stray dogs had not been framed yet.

A section officer of the LG department said that the master plan for the rabies control programme had already been submitted, adding that the plan was connected with the by-laws under the LG law, and so requested time to file comments in this regard. The project director of the government’s stray dogs control programme submitted the master plan for the rabies control programme in court. He also submitted the timeline for achieving the targets.

The bench said that the implementation of the master plan and the framing of the by-laws were two different things, explaining that the framing of the by-laws was a statutory responsibility that could not be delayed for an indefinite period of time. The court said that the LG law was in field since 2013, adding that the provision of by-laws was present even in the earlier version.

The LG secretary had earlier submitted a progress report stating that in line with the court’s directives, a complaint centre had been functioning and numerous grievances had been received against stray dogs, while action had also been taken on those complaints.

He said that a mass vaccination programme for stray dogs had been started with the help of private hospitals and non-governmental organisations, but it had been stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and would be resumed soon. He also said that a task force had been performing its duties to control the stray dog population. He added that they felt the need to revise the PC-I for the rabies programme and check the stray dog population at a cost of Rs1.074 billion for its better implementation.

Advocate M Tariq Mansoor had submitted in his petition that Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho had said before the Sindh Assembly that over 92,000 dog-bite cases had been reported across the province in a year by June 30, 2019.

He said that according to the minister, there was also a shortage of rabies vaccine due to the ongoing tension with India and the closure of a Chinese company’s operations.

He added that dog-bite incidents had been worsening day by day due to the failure of the provincial and local administrations to deal with the situation, pointing out that neither were stray dogs being caught nor was the vaccine available at hospitals.