Taking serious note of rampant commercial exploitation of groundwater by private landowners as well as tanker lorry owners from the outskirts of cities across the State, the Madras High Court has directed Collectors of all 32 districts to register details of each and every water tanker lorry operating within their jurisdiction.
Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad also directed the State government to issue a notification forthwith directing the owners of water tanker lorries to get registered.
“District Collectors of all the districts are hereby directed to register the details of tanker lorries permitted for transportation of water,” they ordered.
‘Organised exploitation’
The judges said it was unfortunate that most of the Collectors did not have any record regarding the number of tanker lorries plying within their jurisdiction and their ownership details though precious natural resources such as water, sand and stones were being exploited “in an organised manner” much to the detriment of the environment.
“We deem it fit to observe that non-registration of the details of tanker lorries could facilitate use of such tankers for illegal purposes. When extraction of groundwater from private borewells had been permitted without any restriction only for domestic purposes, there is always a possibility of selling the same by engaging tankers,” the Bench added.
It also expressed disappointment over inaction on the part of the officials over the years despite the government authorities having found in 2009 that as many as 138 blocks, apart from all of Chennai city, in the State being found to be falling under the category of ‘overexploited’ in so far as groundwater extraction was concerned.
Study’s findings
A study carried out by the State Ground and Surface Water Resources Data Centre in association with the Central Ground Water Board had also categorised 33 blocks as critical, 67 - semi critical, 136 as safe and 11 as blocks with saline or poor quality of groundwater. The findings of the study were approved by the State government in 2012.
The government had also declared the overexploited and critical blocks as notified blocks, since the rate of groundwater extraction over there was 90% and above, and imposed various restrictions on drawal of water from those places. Another Government Order was also issued in July 2014 framing regulations for effective management of groundwater.
When these regulations were challenged by a group of packaged drinking water units in 2018, Justice S.M. Subramaniam of the High Court dismissed those case on October 3 last year with a series of directions which included installation of flow meters to keep a check on quantum of groundwater by those holding licence for commercial exploitation.
The judge also ordered registration of criminal cases under Section 379 (theft) of Indian Penal Code against those who extract excess water either by tampering the flow meters or through other means. He ordered that people who waste water should also be booked under Section 425 (committing mischief) of the IPC.
Report not submitted
When the Division Bench wanted know the status of the directions issued by the single judge, Advocate General Vijay Narayan informed the court that the government had constituted a committee which was yet to submit its report. He said, the government would issue appropriate orders on the basis of the proposed report.
The submissions and interim orders on registration of water tanker lorries were issued on a public interest litigation petition filed against alleged illegal drawal of water from Nanganallur and other areas in Chennai city. After issuing the interim directions, the Bench adjourned the PIL petition to July 11 for further hearing.
