Cabinet clears ordinance to amend provisions on appointments to MWRRA

May 18, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 08:37 am IST - MUMBAI:

The State Cabinet has cleared an ordinance to amend the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority Act, 2005, tweaking the provisions on appointments to the quasi-judicial body.

The ordinance stipulates the appointment of a retired bureaucrat (with past service equivalent to chief secretary) or a retired High Court judge, as chairperson of the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA).

Besides, the ordinance amends the Act to include four more experts from various sectors as representatives on the board. Since its establishment in 2006, the MWRRA has been operating with three members: the chairperson, member (economy) and member (technical). The regulatory authority will now have five members, including the chairperson. The four members will be drawn from the sectors of water-resources engineering, finance, groundwater management, and law and judiciary.

In addition, five special invitees representing the five irrigation corporations in the State will participate in discussions on issues related to their corporations. The corporations are the Krishna Valley, Vidarbha, Tapi, Godavari and the Konkan. The invitees will be drawn from the engineering, agriculture, environment, drinking water, industry, law, economics, commerce, financial management or organisational water resources sectors. The ordinance also amends the composition of the selection committee for appointing the chairperson and members to the MWRRA, to include the director of the IIT Mumbai and a representative of a reputed national-level organisation. The amendments to the MWRRAA were based on the recommendations made by a study group headed by HT Mendegiri, former director general of Aurangabad water and groundwater management body.

The writer is a freelance journalist

It stipulates the appointment of a retired bureaucrat or a retired HC judge as head

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.