Government fined for not obeying orders on Olive Ridleys

Chennai

The Madras High Court has penalised the Government by imposing a fine of Rs.7,500 for failing to appoint an external agency and file a comprehensive report, as directed by the court three months ago.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice S Vaidyanathan imposed the fine after observing that “The state government is in breach of our order dated January 28, 2016, having done nothing till the anvil of the hearing for carrying out an audit by a non-governmental organisation working in the field of turtle conservation.”

Pointing out that despite their direction in January 2016, the Government had wasted over two months without appointing the external audit agency and that documents show that it is only vide letter dated April 7, 2016 that consent of t h e Trust for Environmental Education was sought to be obtained, the bench said: “We consider it fit to penalise the state government for the inaction.” The government has been directed to pay the fine to the Mediation and Conciliation centre on high court campus within two weeks. Posting the matter to July 11, the judges said the report should be placed before the court at least three days before that date.

Amicus curiae T Mohan, who had originally suggested external audit, filed a memo starting that Wildlife film maker Shear Dattatri had been nominated to conduct a third party audit. Referring to the government’s claim that turtle mortality had come down compared to previous years, Mohan said the report, however, had failed to provide any data on turtle mortality and nesting. He said details such as turtle-saving TED nets, which have exit mechanism for turtles that accidentally get caught in fishing nets, and the number of trawlers using such nets has not been provided.

The Madras High Court last year had suo motu taken note of the issue based on a report about the mass death of the endangered Olive Ridley Turtles on Chennai by fishermen. The court’s deputy registrar was made the petitioner and the plea sought action against erring fishermen and steps to protect sea animals, including olive ridley turtles.