The Madras High Court on Wednesday granted four weeks’ time for the State government to constitute an expert committee for coming up with suggestions and ideas on augmenting the groundwater table by harnessing rainwater through various means rather than let copious water flow into the sea.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said the committee could take four more weeks to come up with a preliminary report on the ways and means in which water could be saved. They requested Advocate General (A-G) Vijay Narayan to bestow attention to the issue since it involved larger public interest.
The Chief Justice told the A-G that the State had received a bountiful rain and therefore steps should be taken to save water. He said so during the hearing of a public interest litigation petition which complained about excess water from reservoirs and dams being let into the sea without using it to increase the groundwater table.
Entering appearance in the case, at the instance of the court, the A-G said that he would hold discussions with officials in the Water Resources Department, under the Public Works Department, and explore the possibility of constituting a body of experts to delve into the issue. However, the Chief Justice insisted on including external experts too.
When the Chief Justice observed that the government officials might at times miss the woods for the trees and that it would be advisable to include external experts too in the committee, the A-G said experts from Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) and Anna University could also be included and sought some time to report progress.
Satisfied that there had been a positive response from the State government to the issue on hand, the judges granted eight weeks’ time for it to submit the details of the proposed committee as well as the preliminary report submitted by it.
