The Madras High Court Bench here has refused to give even a week’s time to Madurai Municipal Corporation to restore drinking water connection to the house of an octogenarian at Tirunagar near here and directed the Commissioner to ensure that the work is done within two days.
Justice T. Raja passed the order after observing that “water is a basic necessity of life and without there being water, the day-to-day life will get very much affected.” He empathised with the writ petitioner, M. Gomathinayagam, who was suffering without drinking water for long due to one reason or the other.
The judge pointed out that the petitioner had obtained drinking water connection in October 2006 when his residential locality was within the territorial jurisdiction of Tirunagar town panchayat. He was not supplied with water properly from May 2007 though the local body continued to demand water tax from him.
After the expansion of Madurai Corporation limits, the pipeline that supplied drinking water to his house was damaged by the contractors engaged by the civic body for drainage works.
His plea to repair the pipeline and restore the water connection was not heeded forcing him to file a number of writ petitions.
One of those writ petitions were disposed of with a direction to consider the petitioner’s representation within eight weeks. Yet, no fruitful action was taken forcing him to file the present petition which was disposed of with a direction to restore water supply forthwith.
