High Court nudge toAurangabad Municipal Corporation over water project

Aurangabad: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court on Monday questioned the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) when it would place before the general body the state government letter asking it to take appropriate action against the private partner in the Rs 792-crore parallel water supply scheme.
The public interest litigation (PIL) filed by experts and activists, including Vijay Diwan and Rajendra Datey-Patil, seeking direction to the civic body and the government to scrap the public private partnership model for the water supply scheme came up for hearing before the bench comprising Justice S S Shinde and Justice S S Sangitrao on Monday.Following arguments the bench has placed the next date of hearing on May 6.
Anil Bajaj, the lawyer representing the civic body, informed the court that following the receipt of the government letter, the civic body had issued a notice to the private contractor. The company had replied to the notice. "The government letter and the water utility company's reply would be presented before the general body soon for it to take appropriate action," Bajaj said.
The government had earlier pointed out to the court that as per the assurance given by the chief minister on the floor of the assembly, a three-member committee headed by Santosh Kumar was appointed to probe the issues related to the parallel water supply scheme. The committee submitted its report, following which, the government issued directions to the civic body to take appropriate action against the private company.
Several groups and social workers, including Diwan and Patil, approached the high court seeking directions to the civic body to scrap the PPP model as the move was against the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution. It was also mandatory on the part of the civic body, according to the provisions of the municipal corporation act, to supply water to residents. The petitioners sought directions that the civic body or a government agency should implement the Rs 792-crore scheme.
The petitioners also pointed out several technical flaws and violation of norms in the award of contract to the private party and insisted that it would be very costly for the residents in the long run to get water supply.
They also pointed out erratic and irregular water supply ever since the civic body handed over the entire water supply to the private company.