Representative image showing a stray dog.
Credit: Pixabay Photo
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Centre, state government, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and others in a public interest litigation (PIL) against the Request For Proposal (RFP) for implanting microchips in the bodies of street dogs.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice KV Aravind also issued notices to the Animal Welfare Board of India and Karnataka Animal Welfare Board. The matter has been adjourned to December 16.
The petitioner, Save Our Animals Charitable Trust, Bengaluru and Naveena Kamath, an environmental activist, challenged the February 29, 2024. Request For Proposal (RFP), issued by the BBMP, for procuring microchips, microchip readers and implanting them in the bodies of street dogs that can be scanned. The petitioners claimed that the BBMP has no legal authority or sanction to issue such microchips in street dogs.
According to the petitioners, the project does not have the approval of Central Animal Birth Control Monitoring and Implementation Committee or Animal Welfare Board of India and no permission has been sought for micro chipping the street dogs. They said that the Animal Welfare Board of India has remained silent though it is empowered to issue show cause notice to BBMP under Rule 18 (1) of Animal Birth Control Rules for deviating from the provisions of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and Rules.
The petitioner stated that the BBMP has acted beyond the scope of the BBMP Act and also the ABC Rules. “There is no approved standard operating procedure (SOP) in place for the proposed project. The project appears to be ineffective and entails unnecessary usage of public funds,” the petition said.