The Delhi High Court has directed the Central government to decide on the representation by two entities on whether drinking water and waste water management sectors can be included under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS).
Justice Prateek Jalan asked the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, to take a decision on the representations by Water Alliance India and Nangloi Water Services Pvt. Ltd. within three weeks.
ECLGS was introduced under the Atmanirbhar Bharat package of government to ameliorate the credit crunch and reduce the cost of funds for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and other business enterprises, so that they can tide over the COVID-19 crisis.
The petition had claimed that MSMEs and other small businesses involved in the drinking water and waste water management sectors have been excluded from the ECLGS scheme without any rational basis, in spite of water being an essential commodity.
Water Alliance India and Nangloi Water Services had moved the High Court claiming that exclusion of water sector, which is part of MSMEs, from availing the benefits under ECLGS violated the fundamental rights conferred under Article 19 and Article 14 of the Constitution.
While Water Alliance India claims to be an organised group of MSMEs involved in diverse fields in the water sector, Nangloi Water Services oversees improvement and revamping of existing water supply system on behalf of the Delhi Jal Board.
