HC imposes fine on NDMC Director for his absence during Monkey case

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Mar 14 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on a top official of the New Delhi Municipal Committee(NDMC) Director (Enforcement) R C Meena, who failed to be present in the court to submit the report on prosecution of those people who were feeding wild monkeys in public places.

A division bench of Justice Swatanter Kumar and H.R. Malhotra directed the NDMC to deduct the amount from the salary of Meena for his dereliction of duty and deposit it with the Legal Aid.

The court expressed its displeasure when the municipal authorities said that only 18 people in Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD) and eight in the NDMC area could be fined for feeding the monkeys, disobeying the court order.

While disposing of the petition relating to monkey menace in the capital, the court directed the authorities to trap all the monkeys within two months and relocate them at the 100-acre natural habitat in Bhatti Mines in the southern part of the capital.

Prof P K Yadav of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) was appointed as the nodal officer to coordinate the health check-up of the monkeys before releasing them in the sanctuary.

The Judges conceded to the officials, submission and allowed sterilisation of only 25 per cent of the healthy monkeys under medical supervision.'' Utmost care should be taken to sterilise the monkeys, said the bench when the authorities submitted that this was the only way to check the population of the semians.

The provision should be made in the annual budget for providing food and water for the primates in the habitat, which should be properly fenced before shifting all the monkeys.

The court directed the enforcement committee comprising the chiefs of MCD, NDMC, Delhi Development Authority(DDA) and Delhi Animal Husbandry Secretary to submit a report before the court every month.

The court said if the directions were not implemented, the authorities would be punished for contempt of court. ''Violation of the order would be liable to be proceeded for contempt of court,'' said the Judges in the judgement.

UNI

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