Monkey menace: Authorities avoid holding evening courts at Tis Hazari

New Delhi, Nov 13 (IANS) The threat of marauding monkeys in Delhi has forced the authorities to avoid holding evening courts at Tis Hazari.

According to court officials, the authorities had selected Tis Hazari court as one of the sites for holding evening courts in the capital.

"The proposal was turned down as several cases of monkey menace have been reported from the premises and the animals might create problems in working of the evening courts," said an official.

After final discussions, the Patiala House court and Karkardooma court were finally selected for holding evening courts, the official said.

"The monkey menace is not new in the Tis Hazari court premises and several orders have been issued to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to check it," he added.

Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan Wednesday inaugurated the evening courts. These courts will function for two hours from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily and initially take up cases of dishonoured cheques of up to Rs.25,000 where the complainant is a financial institution.

Evening courts were first mooted in the 125th report of the Law Commission and again recommended during the Conference of Chief Justices held in April 2007 as one of the means to deal with pending cases.