Supreme Court Judge Vikram Nath on Saturday said the stray dog case has made him known to the entire civil society in India and the world over.
Justice Nath was addressing a regional conference on human-wildlife conflict and co-existence, organised by the National Legal Services Authority and the Kerala State Legal Services Authority here.
The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, presided by Justice Nath, had last week stayed the earlier direction of the two-judge bench, which had said that stray dogs from Delhi-NCR should remain in shelters after sterilisation. The three-member bench ordered that strays, after vaccination and sterilisation, should be released in the same area from where they are caught.
Starting his address on a lighter note, Justice Nath said, “So far, I have been known in the legal fraternity for the little work I do. But I am thankful to the stray dogs for making me known to the entire civil society, not only in this country here but also the world over. I am thankful to my Chief Justice for allotting me that matter.”
Referring to the Law Asia POLA summit, Justice Nath said, “We were in the summit, and the presidents of the lawyers were also there. They started asking questions about the stray dogs matter. I felt very elated… people outside India also know me. So I am thankful to them for giving me this recognition. And I have also been receiving messages saying that, apart from dog lovers, even dogs are giving me blessings and good wishes. In addition to human blessings and good wishes, I have their good wishes also.”
Stressing the importance of co-existence of humans and wildlife, Justice Nath said that humans have lived alongside wildlife and nature for centuries. “Somewhere in the past decades, we have drifted away from this ethos, resulting in conflict. Our Constitution has laid the framework to find solutions for the conflict,” he said.
