MC violates court orders on defective water meters

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court''s order three years ago regarding replacing of faulty domestic water meters is quite clear: The Municipal Corporation (MC) has to replace them at its own cost.
Surprisingly, a Sub-Divisional Engineer (SDE) of the MC''s Public Health department is still not aware of the amendments made to an MC notification in this regard on the basis of the HC order.
The SDE in a memo to Sector 27 residents welfare association in August this year (a copy is available with The Times of India) clearly seems to have committed contempt of the court by asking residents to replace 3/4-inch meters on their own.
The earlier MC notification in 2000 lists the various sizes of the meters including 3/4 inch and the security deposits to be collected against each of them. It says the meters of all sizes can be arranged by the consumers themselves or purchased from the MC.
"The consumer shall be fully responsible for replacement of the defective meters. If the meters are replaced by the consumers, they should not be charged monthly rent," it states.
Aggrieved over the MC fixing responsibility on the residents, the UT consumer forum approached the HC to get the notification quashed and the court ordered the MC to replace the defective meters, instead of asking the consumers to do so. The MC immediately amended the expunged notification.
Pala Ram, a resident of Sector 27, told TNN that he faced harassment from the MC officials after he was served a notice early this year on replacing the 3/4-inch meters, despite the HC order. "Shifting the onus on the consumers, much against the HC order, is nothing but harassment. They are anyway collecting rent towards the faulty meters, which is once again a violation under the consumer laws," he argues.
Interestingly, the earlier notification talks about the consumer purchasing the meters and getting it tested from the labs of the civic body before the MC staff fix it at the consumer''s homes. "This is a cumbersome process. I will be made to run from pillar to post to get the meter checked and approved and later get them fixed at my home," contends Pala Ram.
MC nominated councillor P C Sanghi, who has a copy of both the HC order and the notifications, said though the amended notification was silent on the size of the meters, it is clear that all domestic meters are to be replaced by the civic body.
MC Chief Engineer M K Khanna reiterated that his staff had replaced about 25,000 meters last year and had fixed a target of 15,000 meters, irrespective of the size, before the end of the financial year.