Karnataka High Court quashes Central Government’s circular banning 23 ‘ferocious and dangerous’ dog breeds

The circular was based on a direction issued by the High Court of Delhi in a public interest litigation asking the department to consider the representation of a PIL petitioner for banning certain dog breeds.

The High Court of Karnataka on April 10 quashed a circular issued by the Central Government on March 12 banning 23 breeds of ‘ferocious and dangerous’ dogs.

The court said that the Central government could not have banned the dog breeds through a circular in the absence of any such power available under the provisions of the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and the Animal Birth Control Rules.

However, the court reserved the liberty to the Central Government to bring back the ban on certain breeds after making suitable amendments to the law after hearing the stakeholders, including Kennel Club of India.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing a petition filed by King Solomon David and Mardona Jones, both residents of Bengaluru.

On March 19, the court had stayed the operation of the circular in Karnataka.

The circular was issued based on a report by an expert committee, constituted under the chairmanship of the Animal Husbandry Commission comprising various stakeholder organisations and experts, which had identified certain dog breeds as ‘ferocious and dangerous to human life’.

The circular was based on a direction issued by the High Court of Delhi in a public interest litigation asking the department to consider the representation of a PIL petitioner for banning certain dog breeds. It stated that all those who have reared these breeds of dogs as pets should sterilise the dogs for stopping further breeding.