The November 7 order produced an avalanche of interlocutory applications that the Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria spent months working through before delivering its judgment on May 19.
The Nath Bench's central legal move was to resolve the Rule 11(19) conflict that the August 11 order had left dangling.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 defines "street" as a road, lane or open space to which the public has access.
The re-release obligation in Rule 11(19) must be read within those limits.
The November 7 directions were not overriding the Rules; they were reading them correctly for the first time.
The November 7 order produced an avalanche of interlocutory applications that the Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria spent months working through before delivering its judgment on May 19.
The Nath Bench's central legal move was to resolve the Rule 11(19) conflict that the August 11 order had left dangling. Its method: statutory interpretation, carefully done. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 defines "street" as a road, lane or open space to which the public has access. The re-release obligation in Rule 11(19) must be read within those limits. A hospital campus is not a street, neither is a school. The re-release requirement, properly construed, never applied to such spaces. The November 7 directions were not overriding the Rules; they were reading them correctly for the first time.
