Extraction of water through illegal borewells not less than sin: Delhi High Court

New Delhi: Extraction of water through illegal borewells is nothing less than a sin, the Delhi High Court has observed while calling for imposition of "some kind of deterrence" on offenders.

The high court lamented that if such illegal borewells are not stopped, Delhi might end up facing a similar situation as happened in South Africa's Johannesburg a few years back when the city had no water.

"Some kind of deterrence needs to be imposed. It is nothing less than a sin the way illegal borewells are reducing the water level. Do you know what happened in Johannesburg? A few years ago the city had no water for several months. They faced a major water crisis. Do you want that situation to come up in Delhi also?" said a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela on April 9.

The court questioned the civic authorities as to how they could even permit borewells that too for constructions.

The court was hearing a plea by Sunil Kumar Sharma, an advocate, claiming that several borewells or submersible pumps were illegally installed at an under construction building at Goenka Road in Roshanara area here and sought their removal.

The petitioner also informed the court that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has responded in an RTI application that six borewells were found installed in the building.

Whereas, the SDM of Daryaganj has responded to the RTI application that three borewells were found in the building, which have been sealed, Sharma said.

The court ordered a joint survey of the property by high ranking officials of the MCD, DJB and SHO of the area.

"Having regard to the ever decreasing water level on account of such illegal activities, we direct a survey be conducted of such building by a team of high ranking officials nominated by the MCD commissioner, Delhi Jal Board CEO respectively and the SHO of police station concerned," the bench said, adding that the team should conduct the survey within 10 days and file a report.

The court also directed that if any illegal borewell is found functional at the site, appropriate action be taken by the authorities.

It further directed if the survey team finds that illegal borewells were earlier functional, it should mention in its report about the number of such machines and since when they were functional.

On the basis of findings of the report, it would consider imposing environmental compensation on the building owners for causing harm to water level, the bench said and listed the matter for further hearing on July 30.

The petitioner claimed in the plea that the building owner was constructing around 100 flats on the plot and the borewells were causing substantial harm to the residents of the area and it could also damage the environment.

He said that he has given representations to the authorities but no action has been taken.