The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to establish a special bench to examine a challenge by the National Highways Authority of India against a judicial order directing it to construct shelter homes for stray cattle across the country.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana granted the request after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the highway authority, argued that building stray cattle shelters nationwide would cost approximately Rs 7,000 crore. Mehta submitted that constructing and managing these facilities falls within the responsibility of local district-level administrations and maintained that the national authority cannot carry out such work on a pan-India basis.
The directive requiring the agency to build the shelters had previously been issued by a special bench presided over by Justice Vikram Nath. Addressing the Chief Justice’s bench during hearings focused on the management of stray dogs and cattle and the allocation of duties among authorities, Mehta moved an application seeking to reconstitute the earlier three-judge bench—comprising Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta, and Justice N. V. Anjaria—to hear the highway body’s plea.
Mehta noted that the special bench could not be convened without a specific directive from the Chief Justice of India. Chief Justice Kant accepted the submission, stating that the court would constitute the bench.
