NEW DELHI: Until now it is governments and dog lovers who have been heard by Supreme Court while passing orders on the menace of stray dogs.On Monday, the court turned its attention to victims of dog bites, saying they too must be heard and agreeing to implead those who are espousing their cause.A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria said there are three groups involved in the case – States, dog lovers and victims – and any further order in the case would be passed only after hearing all three of them.

“Victims should also have a say in the case,” the bench said during a brief hearing which witnessed chief secretaries of all states and UTs, except Bengal and Telangana, lining up inside the courtroom to tender an unconditional apology for not complying with the court’s earlier order in the matter. The bench also made clear that victims or those espousing their cause would not have to deposit any amount to be impleaded and heard in the case, unlike in the case of dog lovers.As a large number of petitions and impleadment applications were filed on behalf of animal rights activists, SC, in a previous hearing, had directed that individuals and NGOs that had approached court would have to pay Rs 25,000 and Rs 2 lakh, respectively, to be heard by court and the money collected will be used for welfare of strays.With state govts filing their responses to comply with the bench’s directive in a previous hearing, the court did not pass any adverse order and exempted the chief secretaries from appearance at the next date of hearing. It had summoned the top bureaucrat of states/UTs after they did not file an affidavit on implementation of ABC rules.The court also hinted that it would pass directives to regulate feeding of dogs on office premises. “We will issue an order in a few days regarding government institutions, where employees are supporting and encouraging dogs in that area,” the bench said.