The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it was unable to catch monkeys and relocate them to the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary due to lack of monkey-catchers. The civic body also told the court that the Delhi government’s Wildlife Department was the appropriate body for the job.
The SDMC made the submission before a Bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, seeking modification of the high court’s March 14, 2007, asking it to catch monkeys and relocate them.
‘No power, authority’
The order had come on a petition moved by residents of New Friends Colony.
The SDMC, however, said it did not have the power or the authority to catch and relocate monkeys. Also, the civic body said that though it had put out several advertisements for recruiting monkey catchers, and even increased the amount to be paid to them to ₹1,200, no favourable responses were received.
It also said that it had written to the Chief Wildlife Warden of the Delhi government and States like Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan asking for monkey catchers, but got no response.
