The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed stay of an Uttarakhand High Court order fixing Rs2 lakh compensation for Nainital residents who get attacked by dogs, monkeys or bulls.
Filing an appeal against the HC’s April 9 interim direction passed in a PIl, the Nainital Nagar Palika Parishad through its lawyer Manish Kumar argued that since the order was passed, the agency is flooded with complaints of dog bites with the possibility of some being false. Already cash-starved, the Parishad submitted that the Animal Birth Control Rules required it to act on complaints of dog bites and not compensate victims, as even a sterilised dog could bite.
The Bench of Chief Justice Hl Dattu and Justices Arun Mishra and SA Bobde was initially reluctant to order a stay keeping in view the danger posed by stray canines and monkeys in a city that attracts hordes of domestic and foreign tourists.
“If we stay, you (Parishad) will not be doing anything (to prevent such incidents),” the Bench observed. Kumar referred to efforts being carried out by the State to create special campus for street canines under the ABC Rules. The HC order said that for simple injury, the State Government and Parishad will pay Rs 1 lakh each and for grievous hurt, the liability to pay Rs 2 lakh will be on the State Government.
The Bench issued notice to the PIl petitioner and ordered stay of the portion directing compensation. In two days, the Parishad received three complaints and in all cases it had to verify whether the incident occurred in Nainital and further if the bite was by a stray or pet animal.