SC says no to petition for 100 per cent water cut to liquor firms in Maharashtra

Mumbai/New Delhi: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) to constantly monitor water level in all the dams of the state to ensure enough water is available for drinking in the drought-hit state.

The order was passed on a bunch of petitions urging adequate supply of water in drought-hit areas due to scarcity prevailing in various parts of the state. The court was informed that the terms of many members of MWRRA had expired and hence the body was not functioning.

Hearing this, a bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi ordered the Maharashtra government to appoint a new water regulatory authority within a week so that it can monitor the water level of the dams periodically.

If, for any reason, the state government was not in a position to constitute a new water regulatory body, then it should extend the term of old members which had expired, to enable MWRRA to function immediately, said the bench.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court declined to direct the Maharashtra government to completely cut the water supply to the distilleries and breweries in the state and divert drinking water to drought-hit regions.

A vacation bench of Justices P.C. Pant and D. Y. Chandrachud also pulled up the petitioner, who had sought 100 per cent cut in the water supply to the state liquor industry, for having approached the apex court “just for the sake of publicity”.

“The Bombay High Court has already passed an interim order in this regard. Why are you coming against an interim order of the high court? The high court has already allowed a 60 per cent cut, now what do you want? These are all policy decisions. There has to be a balance,” the bench said.

The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court had recently asked the state government to curtail water supply to the liquor industry by 60 per cent from May 10, an order which will be operational till June 27.