Though several complaints were made to the civic authorities, there had been no response, prompting the petitioner to approach the HC. It added that since February 10, till the date of filing plea, not a single drop of water is supplied to the petitioner's society building.

The Bombay High Court on Thursday, after hearing plea by an advocate and resident of Dombivli claiming that the people from 27 villages which are now included in Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation ( KDMC) are facing acute shortage of water supply for nearly six months, directed the CEO of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and KDMC Commissioner to conduct a meeting to ensure the issue is resolved.

A division bench of Justice A Sayed and Justice Abhay Ahuja was hearing plea filed by lawyer Sonappa Krishna Nandrankar through advocate Behzad Irani, which said that since November 20, last year, water supply is totally stopped except the supply through few water tankers and in the vicinity of petitioner’s society building, about 1500 families are deprived of even drinking water.

Though several complaints were made to the civic authorities, there had been no response, prompting the petitioner to approach the HC. It added that since February 10, till the date of filing plea, not a single drop of water is supplied to the petitioner’s society building.

The Court was told that supply of water is covered under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act, 2017 as an essential service and deprivation of water is violation of Article 21 of the Constitution. Irani further submitted that it is the obligation of the civic body to ensure availability of water and particularly drinking water.

As per Court’s earlier directions, Dr. Vijay Suryawanshi, KDMC Commissioner remained present before the HC.

The Commissioner assured the HC that a solution would be found and the problem of water supply to the area in question would be fixed by next date of hearing and meanwhile the regular supply of water through tankers shall be maintained.

“It appears that the Society building of the Petitioner and other buildings in the vicinity are having some technical issues about the deficiency in the water supply. We, however, fail to understand how, when the water was being supplied regularly at least till four months ago, there can be such an acute shortage of water supply since the last few days.,” the bench observed.

The Court noted the admitted position that only about 100 meters away from the affected area, water was made available round the clock and if required, option of temporary pipelines of higher circumference may also be explored.

The Court was told that the area in question is at some height on a hill and the pressure of water is required to be maintained at 0.80 kg/cm2 for smooth supply of water through existing pipelines. The authorities were asked to ensure minimum 0.80 Kg/cm2 pressure is maintained in the area in question.

The Court directed that “whatever be the technical issues,” the KDMC Commissioner and CEO of MIDC should conduct a meeting “to thrash out the issue so as to relieve the hardships faced by the residents of the area.”

Seeking joint affidavit in reply to the plea by KDMC Commissioner and the CEO of MIDC with a plan of action to resolve the issue of shortage of water supply, HC posted further hearing to March 1