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The High Court of Delhi has ruled that merely because the residents are living in an unauthorised colony, the right to have access to drinking water cannot be denied to them. The judgment for this case (Delhi Sainik Cooperative Housing Building Society Ltd vs UOI) was pronounced on Monday, 11 January 2021.
A Single Judge Bench of Justice Jayant Nath stated that the position of law is settled that the “right to access to drinking water is fundamental to life and there is a duty of the State under Article 21 of the Constitution to provide clean drinking water to its citizen”, and the quantum and quality of it should be equal to a person’s basic needs.
The grievance of the petitioners was that the colony was treated as unauthorised by authorities even though proper sale deeds have been registered. Due to this, they were denied the basic essential facilities like water, sewer, electricity etc. for the last 55 years. They were also not allowed to do any maintenance work of the said colony.
In response to the petition, the Government of NCT of Delhi said that the colony was unauthorised as it’s basis was not on a plan approved by the concerned agency. The government pointed out that the letter of allotment showed that the land was not given for residential purposes, but for farm houses.
The court agreed with the government and recognised that the land was for the purpose of agriculture. However, given the peculiar nature of the facts and circumstances of the case, the court directed the Ministry of Defence to call a meeting of appropriate authorities to take decision of regularisation of the colony.
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