The Madras High Court Bench here on Friday directed the Madurai Municipal Corporation to supply eight tankers of water every day to the High Court, following a case filed by the court Registrar, pointing out that the civic body had failed to supply adequate water to the court.
In their order, Justices N. Paul Vasanthakumar and P. Devadass observed that it was ‘a very unfortunate case,’ where the Corporation prompted the Registrar to become a litigant to meet the water requirements of the High Court.
In the petition, initiated suo motu , S. Udhayan, the Registrar (Administration), stated that the High Court Bench faced water scarcity since February. The water tank, situated adjacent to the court, was completely dry for months together, he pointed out.
Of the 25 borewells in the court campus, most were running dry, he contended. The High Court administration requested Corporation Commissioner R. Nanthagopal to supply adequate water to the court. The Commissioner assured the court that he would supply a minimum of six tanker loads of water, amounting to 12,000 litres, every day to meet the requirements in the judges’ quarters, bar associations, food courts and the guest houses, he claimed.
According to the Registrar, the Corporation supplied only three tanker loads of water on an average. The water was not sufficient to meet the requirements of the court which has a large number of visitors every day, he contended.
A letter was addressed to the Commissioner on June 19 and a reminder sent on July 17 seeking adequate water supply to the court. But the Corporation failed to heed the requests of the court, he alleged.
In their order, the judges directed the Corporation Commissioner to supply eight tankers of water to the court every day. A compliance report should be filed once in three days, the judges ruled and directed the registry to post the case to July 17.
