HC asks PMC, PCMC to form teams to address water crisis in urban Pune
In its order dated April 10, the Bombay HC has directed the PMC and PCMC to separately constitute committees
Taking note of the severe water shortage in the urban areas of Pune district falling under the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), the Bombay High Court (HC) has directed the PMC and PCMC to separately constitute committees to attend to the residents’ water scarcity-related complaints. Whereas, the court has directed the PMRDA to address the water problems faced by residents in its jurisdiction.
In its order dated April 10, the Bombay HC has directed the PMC and PCMC to separately constitute committees, each comprising of the municipal commissioner, divisional commissioner, chief city engineer and member, secretary, and district legal services authority. The order was passed by a division bench of the Bombay HC headed by acting chief justice S V Gangapurwala, with justice Sandeep Marne as member, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Wagholi Housing Societies Association (WHSA) made up of 12 housing societies, NGOs and social groups. The bench went into the details of the PIL and took cognisance of the acute water scarcity faced by the residents of urban areas of Pune district as mentioned in the PIL.
Advocate of the Supreme Court (SC) and Bombay HC, Satya Muley, argued on behalf of the petitioners and said that the PMC and PCMC’s provision of water through water tankers was akin to legitimising the water tanker business. Referring to a similar PIL filed in 2016-17 in response to which the Bombay HC had directed the PMC to form a special committee to attend to the residents’ water scarcity-related complaints, advocate Muley informed the court that while the PMC had, in fact, formed such a committee, the said committee met only four times during 2017 and 2018 and was later dissolved citing absence of water scarcity as reason. Advocate Muley pointed out to the court that had that committee continued to function, the present water crisis would have likely not arisen in the urban areas of Pune district.
Advocate Muley also highlighted that the same subject was dealt with by the Bombay HC in 2016 when the suburban areas of Baner and Balewadi were facing severe water shortage and the court had imposed a stay on granting permissions for new constructions in the PMC area.
In the current scenario, several housing societies across Pune district were facing water scarcity and spending huge amounts on purchasing water from private water tanker operators, advocate Muley highlighted. Hence, the PMC was required to reconstitute the committee while the PCMC was required to freshly constitute such a committee to hear and address the water shortage-related grievances of the residents of the respective areas. Advocate Muley said that if the committees failed to address the residents’ concerns, the Bombay HC could once again be approached for further justice.
Earlier, during the hearings on November 29 and December 15 last year, the Bombay HC had expressed serious concern about the water scarcity problem, and had warned of imposing fines on the respondents for their slow response. Assisting advocate Muley in the latest PIL was advocate Mugdha Raut.
