Delhi HC refuses to entertain PIL to ban dangerous dog breeds

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to entertain a public interest litigation to ban and cancel the licence to keep "dangerous" dog breeds such as pitbull, terriers, American bulldog, rottweiler etc.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma asked the petitioner, Legal Attorneys & Barrister Law Firm, to first approach the government authorities with its grievance instead of directly filing a plea before the court.

"This is a wrong trend in PILs. This is a policy decision," said the bench, also comprising Justice Sanjeev Narula.

"Before filing, you make a representation to the government that this is my grievance but you have come straight to the court. You have to make a representation first," the court told the petitioner's lawyer.

In its PIL, the petitioner alleged that breeds like bulldog, rottweiler, pitbull, terriers, Neapolitan Mastiff etc are "dangerous dogs" and are banned in more than 12 countries including India, but the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was still registering them to be kept as pets.

The petition highlighted many incidents of such dog breeds attacking people including their owners.

"lt is the need of the hour to ban and cancel the license to keep such dogs as Pitbull, Terriers, American bulldog, Rottweiler, Japanese Tosa, Bandog, Neapolitan Mastiff, Wolf Dog, Boerboel, Presa Canario, Fila Brasileiro, Tosa Inu, Cane Corso, Dogo Argentino and cross breeds of above mentioned dogs," the petition said.

The petitioner said it was the duty of the Centre and the state government to act as welfare state and to take preemptive action to save the lives of the citizens from the risk of any major dog bite incident by these "dangerous dogs".