Monkey menace: Surgical sterilisation not possible, Delhi Govt tells court

New Delhi, January 20

Surgical sterilisation is not working on monkeys and even professional monkey catchers are not coming forward to help control their menace, the Delhi Government told the Delhi High Court (HC) today.

Demand committee

• The Delhi Government made submissions on a plea seeking records from the state on the funds sanctioned by the Centre
• The petitioner has also sought a committee to ensure implementation of the HC’s directions
• The HC listed the matter for further hearing on March 22

The city government was making submissions on a plea seeking records from the state on the funds sanctioned by the Centre and spent to curb the monkey menace.

A Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad asked petitioner Shashwat Bhardwaj, a lawyer, to place on record a copy of an earlier order of the HC in which certain directions were issued while dealing with the lingering problem caused by monkeys in Delhi.

The HC listed the matter for further hearing on March 22. The petitioner has also sought setting up of a committee of senor bureaucrats, wildlife experts and members of the Bar who have extensively worked for animal rights to ensure effective implementation of the HC’s directions, particularly with regard to New Delhi.

During the hearing, Delhi Government’s standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi said the state had received funds from the Centre for the purpose and a tender was floated for hiring monkey catchers but nobody came forward.

The counsel contended that surgical sterilisation of monkeys was not possible and such endeavours hadn’t been successful in many parts of the country. He said oral contraceptive pills are administered to monkeys in captivity but these tablets have their own side effects.

The plea said the New Delhi region had seen an alarming infestation of the simian population and consequential increase in monkey bite cases.

It said monkeys can be seen roaming around freely and snatching food from visitors near the HC canteen, posing a threat to their life and safety.

In 2007, the high court had issued a slew of directions to all civic agencies for freeing the Capital of the menace within three months.