India, Oct. 31 -- The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday refused to permit chief secretaries of states and Union territories (UTs) to appear before it through video conferencing instead of being present physically to explain their non-compliance with the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2023, and their failure to curb the stray dog menace.

The court said the authorities appeared to be "sleeping over" its orders and must now "come and explain" why they had not filed compliance affidavits despite repeated directions.

Rejecting a request made by solicitor general Tushar Mehta to allow virtual appearances, a bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said, "No, let them come physically. It is very unfortunate that the court is giving time h...