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Shajimon Joseph v. State of Kerala.

País/Territorio
India
Tipo de la corte
Nacional - corte superior
Fecha
Dic 4, 2006
Fuente
UNEP, InforMEA
Nombre del tribunal
HIGH COURT OF KERALA
Sede de la corte
ERNAKULAM
Juez
Bali, V.K.
Siri Jagan, S.
Número de referencia
2007(1)KLT368
Idioma
Inglés
Materia
Agua
Palabra clave
Abastecimiento de agua Derechos de agua Agua potable
Resumen
In spite of water in such abundance all over the district, the inhabitants of Alappuzha do not get clean drinking water, despite the water supply system in existence operated by the Kerala Water Authority. It is in the above backdrop that two residents of Alappuzha have approached this Court with this Writ Petition with very serious allegations against the Government and the Kerala Water. Authority not only regarding the apathy of the Government and the Water Authority towards their drinking water problem, but also complaining of corruption in the matter of putting into execution a project for supply of clean drinking water, which was envisaged as early as in the year 2000. The "Alappuzha Water Supply Scheme" was envisaged by the Kerala Water Authority to cater to the drinking water needs of the people of the entire Alappuzha Municipality and the neighbouring eight Panchayat areas. Although the scheme was envisaged for immediate implementation nothing concrete has happened yet from the side of the Water Authority and the Government who are to implement the project. This Public Interest Litigation is seeking the following reliefs:. Issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or such other appropriate writ or order or direction calling for the production of all the records and files relating to the Alappuzha Water Supply Scheme including the project reports; ii. Command the 2nd and 3rd respondents to execute and complete the Alappuzha Water Supply within a time frame fixed by this Court. Water is one of the primary needs of man, second only to air. Water is in fact the elixir of life. Any Government whether proletarian or bourgeois and certainly a Welfare State committed to the cause of the common man, is bound to provide and that this should be the foremost duty of the government. Failure of the State to provide safe drinking water to the citizens in adequate quantities would amount to violation of the fundamental right to life enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India and would be a violation of human rights. By constituting the Water Authority, the responsibility of the State to supply clean drinking water to the people of Kerala does not end there, since the Water Authority cannot on its own without sufficient funds to carry out that obligation. It has to come from the Government to do what is needed for finding funds for the projects in such cases. The Court also brought to the attention of the Government, Article 47 of the Constitution of India on Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health. and the Government: (1) The Water Authority shall once again make a detailed study of whatever sites that are available for water intake including Veeyapuram site and with the help of scientific data so collected take a final decision on the site to be selected for water intake for the Alappuzha Water Supply project. This shall be done within one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment. Thereafter proceedings for finalisation of tender for the project shall be drawn up. While doing so, the Water Authority shall address itself to the question as to whether M.S. steel pipes should be used in the water supply system or GRP pipes, taking into account the specific averments made by the petitioners in the Writ Petition and if the averments in the Writ Petition are true M.S. steel pipes shall be preferred to GRP pipes. Tender.
Texto completo
COU-156185.pdf