MC Chandigarh launches massive dog catching drive, NGOs protest claiming illegality & cruelty

CHANDIGARH: On Friday, MC Chandigarh launched a massive stray dog catching drive from across the city. “We are complying with the Supreme Court’s order of (November 7, 2025) relocating stray dogs to shelters and will continue the drive till we are told to stop doing so from our senior officials,” says Dr Gaurav Lakhanpal, Veterinary Officer, in charge of dog cell, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh.On Saturday, leading animal welfare NGOs from across the Tricity and volunteers gathered to protest outside the Animal Birth Control (ABC) unit of MC, at Raipur Kalan, Makhanmajra, which is being used to house the captured dogs. The unit is also being temporarily used by SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), whose actual premises in Sector 38 is undergoing renovation, to treat sick dogs.Monica Sachdeva, of Furever Youth Foundation says, “Healthy, vaccinated and friendly dogs are being captured in inhuman and cruel ways by the MC, in a bid to fulfil their jobs of showing compliance with the Supreme Court’s order. Some of these dogs are also very old and are being injured badly in the race to catch dogs. However, what they are doing is a clear violation of the honourable court’s order, which had said that dogs are to be kept only in designated shelters and till shelters are not built, dogs cannot be lodged there. And by their own admission, MC Chandigarh does not have designated shelters so far.”Reacting to this, Dr Lakhanpal says, “The ABC unit is being used temporarily as a shelter, and we have capacity of keeping 150 dogs there.”Meenakshi Malik, from Rab De Jeev NGO, vehemently opposed this move saying, “The ABC unit has a very defined role as per ABC rules 2023, which says that these units are meant for dogs undergoing sterilization. While the SPCA is holding dogs with contagious diseases. How can they stuff healthy animals with sick ones? Already the functioning of the SPCA is under question and filed as a PIL pending before the Punjab & Haryana High Court.”Payal, a volunteer from Manimajra says, “The tearing hurry shown by MC to capture dogs, that too at odd hours of the night and late evening, shows they are aware of the illegality of their actions.”With the next hearing on the matter of stray dogs scheduled for January 7 at the Supreme Court, a set of Chandigarh volunteers filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on December 24, 2025, challenging MC Chandigarh’s actions of relocating stray dogs to a non-designated shelter at the ABC unit.The petition has been filed under Article 226, via lawyers Sidharth Arora, Navraj Narang and Nikhil Anand. Advocate Siddharth said, “The ABC and SPCA, which are both in shambles, are meant for sterilization and sick animals. To implement honourable Supreme Court’s order, MC needs certificate of project recognition from AWBI, as per Rule 3 and 5 of the ABC rules. But Chandigarh MC does not have that yet. Under such circumstances the MC’s wanton act of rounding up the voiceless at odd hours profoundly falls short of legal yardsticks and is against the law. MC is fully cognizant that it is bereft of infrastructure in compliance with the Supreme Court, and their actions of picking dogs and stuffing them at Raipur Kalan are solely meant to give an impression of compliance with the Supreme Court’s order.”