HC tells departments to review water project timeline before next hearing

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

The Bombay High Court has asked all concerned departments to review and deliberate jointly on the date-wise roadmap submitted by the contractor for the city’s pending water supply works, and present a consolidated response in the next hearing scheduled for August 22.

The direction was issued on Friday (August 1) by Justices Ravindra V. Ghuge and Gautam Ankhad during a hearing in Mumbai on a public interest litigation (PIL) related to the long-pending water supply project.

In line with the court’s earlier directive, the contractor submitted a timeline of remaining works during the hearing. A progress report from the court-appointed monitoring committee was also tabled. The bench has now asked all departments to arrive at a common conclusion on the roadmap before the next hearing.

All tanks completed, billing under scrutiny

Senior advocate R.N. Dhorde, appearing for the contractor, informed the court that all eight overhead water tanks (Jalkumbh) have been completed. Advocate Vinod Patil, representing Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP), said regular bill payments are underway and clarified that additional bills will be vetted by the court-appointed committee before clearance.

New amicus appointed

To assist the court going forward, advocate Shambhuraj Deshmukh has been appointed as amicus curiae (friend of the court).

Legal representation

Senior advocates Rajendra Deshmukh and Sanjeev Deshpande appeared in person in Mumbai, while chief government pleader Amarjitsingh Girashe, petitioner Adv. Amit Mukhedkar, and Adv. Sambhaji Tope (representing the municipal corporation) attended online from the Aurangabad bench.