SC halts pumping of KC Valley water

KOLAR/ BENGALURU: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the order of the Karnataka High Court, which permitted the state government to restart the pumping of water from the KC Valley Project to the tanks in Kolar and Chikkaballapura districts.Hearing the Special Leave Petition filed by P Anjaneya Reddy, the Supreme Court bench comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, passed the interim order staying the order of Karnataka High Court’s order. 

“Though the order impugned is an interim order, having regard to the facts of the case, we are inclined to stay the order of the High Court”, the Supreme Court said while ordering notice to the Government of Karnataka and other agencies involving in the project.  While permitting the state government to restart the pumping of water, the Karnataka High Court September 28, 2018, had ordered the State to submit the report after ascertain the quality of water supplying to the tanks and the groundwater after 15 days. 

This was after Reddy expressed apprehension about the quality of water and its impact, even after the lab reports confirmed the water samples are within the parameters.  Earlier, on July 24, 2018, the Karnataka High Court restrained the Karnataka government from restarting the pumping of water, which was stopped as untreated water entered into lake. The court had also ordered the state government to submit the report of water samples of the project after testing the quality.

On receiving this report, the Karnataka High Court modified its order and permitted to restart the pumping of water on September 28, 2018. The petitioner Anjaneya Reddy had moved the High Court by filing the public interest litigation challenging the project on the ground that the social impact assessment has not been done before launching the project. As Karnataka High Court allowed the state to restart pumping of water, he moved the Supreme Court.