Dog lovers stage a protest against the Supreme Court’s order to send all stray dogs in Delhi-NCR to shelters within 8 weeks, at Connaught Place in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court’s suo motu case on the stray dog issue, in which a two-judge bench on Monday, August 11, directed that stray dogs in Delhi-NCR be relocated to shelters, has been referred to a three-judge bench. The matter will now be heard tomorrow by a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and NV Anjaria.

Earlier in the day, Chief Justice of India BR Gavai said he would examine the ongoing issue relating to community dogs, after an advocate mentioned the matter, saying different benches of the Supreme Court have issued conflicting directions.The matter relating to stray dogs was mentioned before a bench headed by the CJI for urgent listing, to which the CJI said, “I will look into this.”

Advocate Nanita Sharma said two benches of the apex court have passed different orders on the stray dogs issue.On August 11, a bench of Justices Pardiwala and R Mahadevan took a stern view of the stray dog menace and ordered the Delhi-NCR to start removing stray dogs from all localities within eight weeks and house them in dedicated dog shelters to be set up by civic authorities.