LexM.K. BALAKRISHNAN & ORS. versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
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[2009] 6 S.C.R. 1178 A M.K. BALAKRISHNAN & ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. (Writ Petition (C) No. 230 of 2001) B APRIL 28, 2009 [MARKANDEY KAT JU AND H.L. DATTU, JJ.] • WATER: Water shortage - Held: Without water, there can be no c life - Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees the right to life to all persons living in India - There. is shortage of water in the country for irrigation and drinking.purpose:-' Central Government would forthwith constitute a committee to address the problems in this regard referred to in this Court's D order dated 26-3-2009* which shall do scientific research on a war footing for solving the water shortage in the country - In particular, the Committee would do scientific research to find out inexpensive methods of converting saline water into fresh water, harnessing and managing rain water and flood waters, E rain water harvesting, treatment of waste water into potable water, protection and preservation of wet lands etc. - The Court would monitor the case from time to time - Therefore, the matter would be listed on second Tuesday of every alternate month on which date progress report would be submitted by i F Chairman of the Committee - Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 21. *State of Orissa v. Govrnment of India & Anr. 2009 SCR 992; Delhi Water Supply & Sewage Disposal Undertaking and Anr. v. State of Haryana and Ors. 1996 (2) G SCC 572 and Chame/i Singh & Ors. v. State of U.P. & Ors. 1996 (2j sec 549, referred to. Case Law Reference: 2009 SCR 992 referred to Para 7 1996 (2) sec 572 referred to Para 7 H 1178 M.K. BALAKRISHNAN & ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA &1179 ORS. 1996 (2) sec 549 referred to Para 7 A CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition No. 230 of 2001. Under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Parag P. Tripathi, ASG, Dr. Manish Singhvi, Manjit Singh, B MG, S.R. Singh, T.S. Doabia, Shyam Divan, Dr. Rajiv Divan, V. Krishna Murthy, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Radhakrishna Kumar, Naresh Kurnar, S.W. Faqidi (for Anuvrat Sharma), Anil Kr. Jha, Sunita Sharma (for B.V. Balaram Das) Riku Sarma (for Ranjan Mazumdar) (for M/s. Corporate Law Group), Avijit C Bhattacharjee, Subrata Biswas, Rani Mishra (for Kamini Jaiswal), Hemantika Wahi, Pinky Behera, K. Enatoli Serna, Radha Shyam Jena, Naresh K. Sharma, Aruna Mathur, Vimal Dubay (for M/s. Arputham Aruna & Co.) Khwairakpam Nobin Singh, Ritu Raj Biswas, Manish Kumar (for Gopal Singh), Vikrant Singh Bais (for Vibha Datta Makhija), Milind Kumar, D R.S. Suri, Anjan Chkarborthy, Anana Sukumar, Neel Kamal Dev Nath, Ranjan Mukherjee, Sumita Hazarika, R. Ayyam Perumal, Ritu Raj (for Anil Shrivastav), K. N. Madhusoodhanan (for M.K. Michael), R. Nedumaran, V.G. Pragasam, S.J. Aristotle, Prabu Rama Subramanian, P.V. Dinesh, Tabrez E Ahmad (for Anis Suhrawardy), Sanjay R. Hedge, Edward Belho, P. Athuimei R. Naga, Vekiulie N. Kera, A. Subhashini, Manoj Saxena, Rajnish K. Singh, Rahul Shukla, Arun R. Pednekar, Danjay V. Kharde (for Asha G. Nair), T. Harish Kumar, V. Vasudevan, Harikesh Singh (for Kamal Mohan F Gupta), T.A. Khan, Arti Gupta (for D.A. Mahra) for the appearing parties. The following Order of the Court was delivered : ORDER G 1. On 26th March, 2009 we had passed a detailed order relating to the problem of water shortage in our country and we had issued notice to the Secretary, Ministry of Science & Technology asking him to file a counter affidavit within four weeks stating what measures have been taken to solve the H 1180 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 6 S.C.R. A water problem in the country and for implementing the recommendations given by one of us (Hon'ble Mr. Justice Markandey Katju) in the decision in State of Orissa v. Government of India & another JT 2009(2) SC 233. 2. Despite having immense reservoirs of water in the form B of the Himalayas in the North and the Arabian sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal in the West, South and East of India, there are water shortages everywhere often· leading to riots, road blocks and other disturbances and disputes for getting water. In many cities, in many colonies people get water C for half an hour in a day, and sometimes not even that e.g. in Delhi, South India, Rajasthan, U.P., Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Northeast, etc .. In large parts of rural areas there is shortage of water for irrigation and drinking purpose. Rivers in India are drying up, ground water is being rapi
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