MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday sought the state government’s stand on a draft bill submitted before it for enacting a new law to regulate the extraction of groundwater. Justice B Pugalendhi, who gave the direction, asked why not the state government adopt the guidelines issued by the union government in its notification dated September 24, 2020, as an interim arrangement till the new law is enacted.
The judge was hearing a batch of petitions filed by private drinking water companies in 2014, against a G.O. passed by the public works department on July 23, 2014, which contained detailed regulations for the management of groundwater and issuance of no-objection certificate or licence for extraction of groundwater in Tamil Nadu. The companies claimed that the regulations affected their fundamental rights.
However, the judge pointed out that the G.O. was already upheld by the high court during litigation in 2018. But, during the course of the hearing, he also expressed concern over the delay in enacting a new law for groundwater management.
While the Tamil Nadu Groundwater (Development and Management) Act, which was in existence from 2003, was repealed in 2013 for enacting a comprehensive law to suit the changed scenario, no law has been enacted for the past 10 years, he noted. The right to water is the right to life and thus it is a fundamental right, the judge said. Citing the prevailing exploitation of groundwater, he also quoted Thiruvalluvar’s couplet, which said, “The world cannot exist without water”.
Further stressing the importance of assessment of groundwater resources for sustainable management and development of groundwater system, he observed, “If surface water goes down, recharge of groundwater will also get reduced and it will create scarcity of groundwater”.
Additional advocate general Veera Kathiravan, in response, informed the court that the government constituted a high-level committee and a technical committee for framing an Act and rules for groundwater management and development in 2019.
The two committees, after elaborate deliberations, have prepared a draft groundwater management and development bill and submitted it to the government for approval on January 13, 2020, Kathiravan said.
Recording this, the judge issued the above directions and adjourned the case to April 26.