The Madras High Court Bench here has directed Virudhunagar Collector to convene a meeting of Caste Hindus and Dalits of T. Veppankulam village in Kariapatti Taluk and resolve a dispute between them over utilising water drawn from a public bore well since one group insisted on using it for drinking and the other for irrigation.
Passing orders on a writ petition filed by a Caste Hindu individual to prevent a Dalit couple from utilising the water for irrigation, Justices R. Sudhakar and V.M. Velumani said: “There appears to be a serious case of allegation of untouchability and difficulties faced by people belonging to Scheduled Caste in utilising the water… The underlying problem is that there is a deep distress between the two caste groups.”
In his affidavit, the writ petitioner R. Sengai accused the Dalit couple V. Mayan and Malarkodi Mayan of illegally drawing water from the bore well to irrigate their fields and also that of adjacent landowners though the Block Development Officer had categorically stated, in reply to petitioner’s application under the Right to Information Act, that the bore well was sunk to meet drinking water needs.
However, Mr. Mayan’s counsel N. Sathish Babu told the court that the bore well had been sunk on five cents of land donated by his client on March 5, 2010, to the State government specifically for the purpose of sinking a bore well to irrigate the lands belonging to Dalits. He said that the Caste Hindus were jealous of the growth of Dalits and were bent upon preventing sources of irrigation.
