Panchkula, April 8 -- Nearly two-and-a-half years after the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) issued directions to provide compensation to dog-bite victims, the Panchkula district administration on Tuesday processed a limited number of applications after constituting a committee in compliance with the court's orders. Most claims, however, could not be decided. Reason: Government hospitals, at the time of administering anti-rabies vaccination, often failed to record crucial details such as the nature of the injury, number of teeth marks, and length or depth of wounds, sources said. This even as Panchkula reports a large number of dog-bite cases every year. Last year alone, it had reported 15,000 cases. In tricity, only Chandigarh has so far been able to implement the HC directions, having settled 184 claims, including dog bites and other stray animal incidents, out of the 495 applications received. Mohali currently lacks a policy to compensate dog-bite victims. On Tuesday, at a meeting of the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Parivar Suraksha Yojana (Dayalu-2), deputy commissioner (DC) Satpal Sharma reviewed 17 such cases received under the scheme. For the remaining applications, the DC directed the Panchkula civil surgeon to convene a meeting with doctors concerned to verify the authenticity of medical certificates and properly assess the severity of injuries, so that eligible victims can be compensated at the earliest. Under the scheme, Rs.10,000 is granted to dog-bite victims for a single tooth mark and Rs.20,000 for two tooth marks, while Rs.10,000 is also provided for minor injuries in accidents. The HC had directed the administrations to provide at least Rs.10,000 per tooth mark and a minimum of Rs.20,000 for every 0.2 cm of wound where flesh has been lost. Mohit Gupta, a resident of Sector 25 and founder of Solution Box, a WhatsApp group of city residents, said he had been bitten by a dog in November 2025 and had appeared as a claimant. A compensation of Rs.10,000 was awarded in his favour. He said that out of 11 cases listed for review, only a few were cleared for final processing, while the rest were deferred pending detailed verification by the civil hospital team. Gupta pointed out a lack of awareness among both residents and medical practitioners regarding proper documentation. In nearly 70% of cases, medical records merely mention "dog bite" without detailed clinical findings, often reducing multiple puncture wounds to a single-tooth injury on paper, he said. Gupta added that the civil hospital authorities need to conduct sensitisation workshops to standardise reporting protocols and improve clinical documentation....