Stray Dogs Can Be Maintained In Campuses Only If Student Bodies Accept Liability : Supreme Court Allows Exemption For NALSAR

The Supreme Court has held that animal welfare groups and student-led bodies can maintain or feed stray dogs within educational institution campuses only if they formally undertake legal liability for any dog-bite incidents or related harm caused within the premises.

In its judgment on stray dog management, a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice N.V. Anjaria said the protection of stray dogs cannot be separated from the responsibility to ensure human safety, and made accountability a precondition for any campus-based animal welfare activity.

"The assertion of rights or interests in favour of such animals cannot operate in isolation, divorced from the corresponding responsibility to safeguard human life and safety. Insofar as the animal welfare groups or student-led bodies in educational institutions are concerned, it shall be mandatory for any such group or body operating within such campuses to expressly undertake such liability by filing an affidavit to this effect with the Head of the Institution concerned, failing which no such activity of maintaining or feeding stray dogs shall be permitted within the institutional premises,” the Court held.

The Bench warned that failure to enforce this direction would invite action against the head of the institution concerned.

Court allows NALSAR to maintain dogs in campus on experimental basis

The ruling came while considering submissions made on behalf of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, which sought permission to continue its campus-based stray dog welfare initiative despite the Court's broader directions prioritising removal of stray dogs from educational campuses in the interest of public safety.

NALSAR submitted that it had institutionalised humane stray dog management through its Animal Law Centre, which undertakes sterilisation, vaccination and sensitisation programmes involving students and staff. It argued that such initiatives could serve as social experiments aligned with the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023, while promoting empathy towards animals.

Accepting this submission as a limited exception, the Court permitted NALSAR's Capture-Sterilise-Vaccinate-Release (CSVR) model to continue on an experimental basis, but only after imposing strict liability conditions.

“In case the Animal Law Centre wishes to carry out the work in terms of the Capture-Sterilise-Vaccinate-Release (CSVR) model inside the campus of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, such activity can be permitted on an experimental basis, subject to the pre-condition that the Animal Law Centre shall furnish an undertaking to the Vice Chancellor... that, in the event of any incident of stray dog bite occurring within the campus, the Animal Law Centre shall be liable to face tortious liability for the injury caused to the individual/s concerned,” the Court stated.

The judgment emphasised that rights claimed in favour of stray dogs cannot exist in isolation from corresponding obligations.

“This Court is of the considered opinion that any framework concerning the management and protection of stray dogs must necessarily be accompanied by clearly defined principles of accountability. The assertion of rights or interests in favour of such animals cannot operate in isolation, divorced from the corresponding responsibility to safeguard human life and safety,” the Bench observed.

Also from the judgment - 'Dog Bite Menace Rising' : Supreme Court Refuses To Modify Directions To Remove Stray Dogs From Public Places