Video- record sterilisation of dogs: HC to SDMC

New Delhi, March 14: Noting that stray dog population in the national capital is on the rise despite claims by authorities that the canines were being sterilised, the Delhi high court on Wednesday directed the South Delhi Municipal Corporation ( SDMC) to videograph the sterilisation process.

A bench of acting chief Gita Mittal and justice C. Hari Shankar said that video recording of the process would ensure that the procedure, which has been outsourced to NGOs, is carried out correctly and there is no fudging of the results.

The direction came after the South Delhi Municipal Corporation ( SDMC) said the work of sterilising dogs has been outsourced to non- government organisations, which leave a small incision on the ears of the canines which have been sterilised.

The bench, however, questioned how the municipal corporation can be sure that the procedure was being correctly carried out, especially when the population of stray dogs in the capital was rising.

It directed the corporation to inspect the centres where the procedure was being carried out, to video record it and file a status report before the next date of hearing on April 23.

The direction from the bench came during the hearing of a public interest litigation ( PIL) by a resident of Tehkhand village in south Delhi.

He sought that no hospital for stray or mad dogs be set up in the vacant land nearby and the site be converted into a park.

The Delhi government, meanwhile, filed a status report indicating that the existence of two veterinary hospitals and a vacant plot where the municipal corporation could set up the facilities for sterilisation of stray dogs.