After UGC orders ‘dog-free’ campuses following SC warning, Pune universities say ‘it is really difficult’

After the University Grants Commission (UGC) directed all higher education institutions across the country to ensure stray dogs are kept off campuses, several universities in and around Pune said that their large open campuses, staff crunch, and people’s affinity towards canines make it challenging to implement the order.

In its notice, UGC also directed, in December last year, that the name of the nodal officer responsible for keeping stray dogs away should be prominently displayed at the campus entrance and notified to the local municipal or jurisdictional body.

“The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, noting a significant rise in dog-bite incidents in institutional areas, has issued stringent and time-bound directions to all States/UTs and the Union of India to secure educational institutions and other public places from stray dog ingress vide order dated 7th November, 2025…” the UGC notice said.

A senior official at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), which spans a 400-acre campus on Ganeshkhind Road, said visitors are allowed in freely, and there is regular vehicular traffic on the premises.

“It is an open campus. Barring COVID, it has remained open. Even during COVID, I had a lot of trouble keeping the doors shut. It is a public state university, you cannot stop it as well… This (directive) will not work,” Professor Nitin Karmalkar, who served as the vice-chancellor of SPPU from 2017 to 2022, said.

“I have stayed at the campus as VC, and basically all the people who come for an early morning walk are pet lovers, and they feed the dogs. Once I tried to stop them, but they did not like it,” added Karmalkar.

He also pointed out that there is a shortage of manpower at SPPU. “There is a lack of resource persons for teaching … Where will they get this person?”

The Indian Express has reported on SPPU’s staff shortage, with 62 per cent of the government-sanctioned faculty positions vacant as of September 2025. Vacancy amongst non-teaching staff remains high as well.

Not just the central university but also affiliated and autonomous colleges are facing staff shortages due to a state government hiring freeze that has lasted over five years.

Current SPPU Vice Chancellor Suresh Gosavi could not be reached for a comment.

Professor Manohar Chaskar, Vice Chancellor, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded, also said that in a campus spread across 600 acres, it isn’t easy to control the movement of dogs.

“We don’t have a walled compound. As per the government instructions, we will take precautions, but they (dogs) can’t be stopped 100 per cent.”

Professor Avinash Moharil, Principal, Sir Parashurambhau College, Pune, said they have started restricting people from entering the campus, “but it is not an easy task to convince them.”

“It is really difficult (to get the dogs off campus) in the sense that they are staying here for a long time. People walk on our campus. We issue passes at a nominal fee, especially to senior citizens. They feed the dogs as well,” said Moharil.

He said they are trying to follow the Supreme Court orders, adding, “It is really difficult”. “We have appointed a professor for the task, but to pick up dogs is not really something we can do. It is difficult to catch a dog. We need trained people for that,” he said.

“Even if we catch them, people are really attached to the dogs. In our college, we have a professional security agency as well, but they are also not able to catch the dogs,” he added.