India, Aug. 14 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday began hearing a case concerning the growing stray dog problem in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). A three-judge bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N V Anjaria is presiding over the proceedings.

The matter follows an earlier directive issued on August 11 by a two-judge bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, which instructed authorities across Delhi-NCR to start removing stray dogs from all localities "at the earliest" and relocate them to designated shelters.

The court had also ordered the immediate establishment of dog shelters, asking for a status report on such infrastructure within eight weeks. It stressed that stray dogs should remain in the...