Madras HC restrains Centre from passing final order in proposed ban on 'dangerous' dog breeds 

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday restrained the Union government from passing a final order on the proposed ban on the import of 24 'dangerous' dog breeds until June 14.

Justice Anita Sumanth directed the Union government's animal husbandry department to continue inviting objections and comments over the proposed ban on the import of dog breeds considered dangerous after constituting a committee with kennel and dog breed experts. The judge then restrained the Union government from passing any final order until then and adjourned the matter for further hearing to June 12.

The Kennel Club of India had moved the high court seeking to quash the recent notice issued by the joint secretary of the animal husbandry department inviting comments and objections to the report on the proposed ban on dog breeds as it was published by a committee without any dog expert in it.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the High Court of Karnataka had in April quashed the notice issued by the joint secretary of the animal husbandry department regarding the report on the proposed ban on dog breeds published by a previous committee. The high court in its judgment had said that none of the stakeholders, especially pet owners were consulted in the process. 

However, the counsel stated that the department had issued a notice on May 12, inviting comments and objections over the report on the proposed ban, which is against the order of the Karnataka High Court.

Meanwhile, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) ARL Sundaresan representing the Union government, assured that, "We are only inviting comments and objections from stakeholders regarding the ban on importing the listed dog breeds... the authority will take a different view."

After the submissions, the judge observed that the report listing the dog breeds to be banned from being imported was not legitimate as the committee that published the report was not composed of experts on dog breeds.

The judge then directed the Union government to constitute a committee with experts on dog breeds. Further, the court also directed to not pass final orders based on the earlier report and allowed the inviting of comments and objections from stakeholders.

In March, the Union government had ordered a ban on the sale, import and breeding of 23 "ferocious" dog breeds due to a rise in cases of attacks by dogs across the country. It had also directed to sterilise the existing dogs of those breeds.

The 23 dog breeds that were banned were: Pitbull Terrier, Tosa Inu, American Staffordshire Terrier, Fila Brasileiro, Dogo Argentino, American Bulldog, Boerboel Kangal, Central Asian Shepherd Dog and Caucasian Shepherd Dog, South Russian Shepherd Dog, Tornjak, Sarplaninac, Japanese Tosa and Akita, Mastiffs, Terriers, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Wolf Dogs, Canario, Akbash Dog, Moscow Guard Dog, Cane Corso and Bandog.