A division bench of the High Court on Monday issued a suo motu
contempt notice to the state government for failing to recover dues of
about Rs 172 crore water cess payable by various government
organisations to the Hyderabad Metro Water Works and Sewerage Board
(HMWWSB) despite the court’s order.
The bench, comprising acting
chief justice NV Ramana and justice Vilas V Afzulpurkar, was dealing
with a public interest petition by the Forum for Good Governance
challenging the action of the HMWWSB in enhancing the water tariff.
In
July last the High Court had directed the municipal administration and
urban development (MAUD) department to recover dues of Rs 172 crore
within two months and till then not to enhance the water tariff. The
bench told the board to reassess the need of enhancement of the tariff
after collecting the dues.
Earlier, the MAUD admitted before the
court that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation owed Rs 49.40
crore, police department Rs 5.78 crore, surrounding gram panchayats Rs
41.52 crore, rural water supply department Rs 29.74 crore, Rajiv Gruha
Kalpa Corporation Rs 4.46 crore, Gandhi Medical College Rs 4.16 crore,
surrounding municipalities Rs 22.84 crore, Military Engineering Services
Rs 7.13 crore and other departments Rs 7.35 crore to the water board.
The
acting chief justice asked the counsel for the government for the
reasons in not implementing the order and in recovering the dues.
When
the counsel was not able to give a convincing reply, the bench said
that it would take suo motu cognisance of the case under the Contempt of
Court Act.
Accordingly, the bench issued notices to the state government and the HMWWSB and adjourned the case by two weeks.
