Supreme Court to Form Special Bench on NHAI Challenge to Nationwide Stray Cattle Shelter Direction

The Supreme Court has agreed to constitute a special Bench to consider the National Highways Authority of India's objection to a direction requiring it to establish stray-cattle shelters across the country.

NHAI's objection

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the NHAI, submitted that implementing the direction on a pan-India basis could involve expenditure of approximately ₹7,000 crore.

He argued that district and local authorities are better placed to create and operate cattle shelters and that the NHAI's core function is highway infrastructure.

Request for a special Bench

The application was mentioned before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana. The Solicitor General sought constitution of a special Bench to consider the NHAI application in the continuing stray-animal proceedings.

The Chief Justice agreed that the Bench would be constituted.

What remains undecided

The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the merits of the NHAI challenge, the financial estimate, or the final allocation of responsibility for stray-cattle shelters. Those questions remain open for the special Bench.