48.—Section 42 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) by the insertion of “serious” before “damage”,

(ii) by the insertion, in paragraph (a), of “food (including human food products and animal feeds)” before “livestock”,

(iii) by the deletion of “or” after the word “plantation” in paragraph (e) and the addition of the following after paragraph (f):

“(g) buildings and other structures and their contents, or

(h) aquaculture installations,”,

(iv) by the insertion of “scaring,” before “capture”,

(b) by the insertion of the following after subsection (1):

“(1A) Any person who by act or omission impedes or obstructs a person authorised by the Minister in the lawful exercise of a power conferred by subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence.”,

(c) by the insertion, in subsection (4), of “scare,” before “capture”,

(d) by the deletion, in subsection (5), of “, to the forester in charge of any forest owned by the Minister”, and

(e) by the substitution of the following for subsection (6):

“(6) In addition to the foregoing, the following provisions shall apply in relation to a permission granted under this section:

(a) the permission shall be valid only for such period and in relation to such area as are specified therein,

(b) particulars of all protected wild birds and protected wild animals captured or killed pursuant to the permission shall be furnished to the Minister by the person to whom the permission is given at such times and in such form as is specified in the permission,

(c) notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the Minister may grant the permission subject to conditions which may include one or more of the following:

(i) that any scaring, capture or killing pursuant to the permission is to be effected by a specified means,

(ii) that any wild bird or any wild animal captured or killed pursuant to the permission shall have affixed to it a tag or other mark of identification to be specified by the Minister,

(iii) that any wild bird or any wild animal captured pursuant to the permission shall be removed to a place specified by the Minister for subsequent release or be disposed of in such other manner as may be so specified,

(iv) that any wild bird or any wild animal killed pursuant to the permission shall be removed to a place specified by the Minister or be disposed of in such other manner as may be so specified,

(v) that the total number of any particular species of protected wild bird or protected wild animal captured or killed pursuant to the permission shall be limited to such number as is specified in the permission.”,

and the said subsections (1) (other than paragraphs (b) to (f)), (4) and (5), as so amended, are set out in the Table to this section.

TABLE

(1) Where serious damage is being caused by protected wild birds or by protected wild animals to—

(a) food (including human food products and animal feeds), livestock, poultry or agricultural crops (including vegetables or fruit) either on pasture or on cultivated land,

(g) buildings and other structures and their contents, or

(h) aquaculture installations,

notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the Minister may cause to be taken by a person authorised by him in that behalf (who is hereby empowered to take) such steps, including entering on any land and the scaring, capture or killing of any such wild bird or any such wild animal, as he thinks appropriate to stop the damage.

(4) An application to the Minister for a permission under this section shall include particulars of the damage in relation to which the application is made and in case the Minister decides to grant the permission, notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the permission shall, subject to its terms, operate to enable the owner or occupier, or any other person duly authorised to act on his behalf, to scare, capture or kill any protected wild bird or any protected wild animal which the owner, occupier or other person reasonably believes is causing the damage and to take such other steps (if any) to stop the damage as are specified in the permission.

(5) An application for a permission under this section may be made to the Minister or to any other person who is authorised for the time being by the Minister to receive such applications.