Nainital civic body seeks SC help on 2L bite bill

NEW DELHI: Pedestrians have always been scared of painful monkey and stray dog bites, which entail costly treatment. But now, the Nainital Municipal Corporation (NMC) and the Uttarakhand government have found to their horror that monkey and dog bites can cost them dear — Rs 2 lakh per bite.

Not only this, the Uttarakhand high court has ordered compensation of up to Rs 2 lakh to pedestrians who faced injuries from stray cows and bulls in Nainital, Ramnagar and Lal Kuan. Wary of the heavy financial implications on its meagre revenue, given the large population of marauding monkeys, stray dogs, cows and bulls in these three towns, the NMC has rushed to the Supreme Court challenging the HC order. In the last three days, the civic body received claims from two persons for compensation on account of dog bites.

The HC had said in its judgment on April 9, "We direct that in case of dog biting, victim shall be paid compensation of Rs 2 lakh — Rs 1 lakh by the municipality and Rs 1 lakh by the state government — within a week from the date of dog biting. We further direct that in the case of ape and monkey biting, the victim shall also be paid Rs 2 lakh by the state government." The HC also took serious note of frequent injuries to pedestrians by stray cows and bulls in Nainital, Haldwani, Ramnagar and Lal Kuan and criticized the civic body and the administration for failing to keep stray cows and bulls in shelter homes.

"Therefore, we direct that in the case of simple injuries caused by stray cows or bulls, victim shall be paid the compensation of Rs 1 lakh (Rs 50,000 by the concerned municipality and Rs 50,000 by the state) and in case of serious injuries, victim shall be paid Rs 2 lakh (Rs 1 lakh each by the municipality and the state)," the HC had said.

The NMC, in its special leave petition, cited the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules, 2001, and said there was no provision casting a duty on the civic body to "prevent a dog bite".

It said the duty cast on the civic body was to sterilize stray dogs. "It may be noted that a dog which has been sterilized may still bite a person on which the concerned authority has got no control," it added.

But the NMC admitted that the civic body and the state had an obligation to provide shelter homes for stray dogs and cows. "However, due to paucity of funds and non-allocation of space, the petitioner is unable to set up ABC Campus and to build shelter homes for such animals," it said.

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