SHILLONG, Oct 15: The Meghalaya High Court has directed the state government to furnish details on the functioning of the committee constituted under Rule 4 of the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001, along with statistics on stray dogs, including the establishment of shelter homes and the number of stray dogs adopted.
The division bench of Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice W. Diengdoh issued the direction while hearing a civil writ petition of 2026 and a PIL of 2024 concerning compliance with the directions issued by the Supreme Court in suo motu petition of 2025 and Kaustav Paul versus State of Meghalaya and others.
The court noted that Additional Advocate General T. Yangi B. filed an affidavit in the nature of a status report on July 29 and another report in August. However, it observed that some of the information furnished was still inadequate.
The court, accordingly, directed the Additional Advocate General to file an affidavit clarifying whether the committee constituted under Rule 4 of the Animal Birth Control (Dogs) Rules, 2001, was functional. The court said the affidavit must also provide other data and statistics, including details regarding the establishment of shelter homes for stray dogs and the number of stray dogs adopted.
The court directed that the affidavit be filed before the next date of hearing, with advance copies provided to the amicus curiae and the petitioner appearing in person.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on November 10.
In the 2026 civil writ petition, L. Khyriem appeared as amicus curiae for the petitioner. Additional Advocate General T. Yangi B., Additional Senior Government Advocate A.H. Kharwanlang, Additional Solicitor General of India N. Mozika, advocate K. Gurung and advocate P. Bhattacharjee appeared for the respondents.
In the 2024 PIL, the petitioner appeared in person, while Additional Advocate General T. Yangi B., Additional Senior Government Advocate A.H. Kharwanlang, Additional Solicitor General of India N. Mozika and advocate K. Gurung represented the respondents.