HC ticks off govt on import of vaccine to control monkey numbers

New Delhi, March 22

“Monkeys will continue to procreate every day and not wait for official meetings.”

Stating this, the Delhi High Court on Thursday ticked off the Centre for being unable to give a clear answer on whether it was willing to import vaccines to sterilise the simians to check their growing population in the national capital and other parts of the country, which has been adversely affecting the people.

A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said the PIL before it to deal with the monkey menace was filed way back in 2001 but despite passage of 17 years, the Centre was yet to take a decision on which ministry was responsible for tackling the issue.

“We want action, not discussions and meetings. The monkeys are not going to wait for your meetings. They are procreating each day. It is an hour to hour problem and brooks no delay. People are vacating whole colonies near the Asola sanctuary where they were relocated.

“The discussions and meetings should have been over by now. If you proceed like this, the matter will go on for another 18 years,” the court said, adding it was “hopelessly failing in making the government do its job”.

The strong remarks by the Bench came after Additional Solicitor General Maninder Acharya told the court that she needed more time to take instructions from the government on the issue of import of vaccine as it cannot be decided “overnight”.

The court, in response, said it would not be overnight for the government as the issue was being considered and pushed by the Bench for the last six months.

Observing that the monkey menace has reached a magnitude where the government has to intervene, it said the Agriculture Ministry should have taken up the issue of importing vaccine to sterilise monkeys as a project long back as cultivation in hilly states, like Himachal Pradesh, has been suffering because of them.

The Bench also asked the Centre why a vaccine to control simian population cannot be imported when some African nations have been doing so. This point has been raised several times by the court in the past but the Central Government is yet to take a decision on it.

The court had earlier called for expediting the process of developing a vaccine, if it cannot be imported, for immuno-contraception — which would use an animal’s immune response to prevent pregnancy.

It said the failure to control the monkey population has a human cost — the money spent on treatment of a person who has been bitten by a simian and the psychological impact on such an individual.

Apart from the human cost, the simians also pays a price as they have to survive in pathetic conditions foraging for food from rubbish bins and garbage dumps, it said.

The government was more focused on spending money to protect electric poles and buildings by surrounding them with spikes and cages that injured the monkeys, but appeared less concerned with protecting people from the simians, the court said.

The court was hearing a PIL, filed through advocate Meera Bhatia, seeking directions to the authorities to take steps to deal with the menace of monkeys and dogs here. — PTI