The Delhi High Court Monday sought the Delhi government’s response on a PIL challenging its scheme of providing 20,000 litres of free water per month to each household in the capital.
A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the government and its water distributing authority, the DJB, seeking their responses by the next date of hearing, November 19.
The petitioners said that water, being a fast-depleting resource, ought not to be given away for free in such huge quantities — especially when several areas do not have water pipelines and depend on tankers.
The plea sought setting aside of the government’s February 25, 2015 decision to provide free water, and the subsequent DJB order notifying it on February 27, 2015. “Vide the said notification, the DJB has been providing free water to consumers since March 1, 2015,” it said. It alleged that “the scheme was launched without conducting proper research with regard to production, recycling and supplying of water in Delhi”.