KRISHNA PILLAI Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has come to this Court with this petition to issue directions to the police to ensure that the work of establishing a bore well in his 2 = cents of residential plot is not obstructed by respondents 7 and 8.

(2.) ACCORDING to the petitioner, he is the owner of a 2 = cents residential plot. A residential building has been put up in that property. There is no well in that property. There is no water connection available in that area. In these circumstances, the petitioner wants to dig a bore well in his property to enable him to obtain water. ACCORDING to the petitioner, the land does not fall within the sweep of the Kerala Ground Water (Control and Regulation) Act, 2002 as there has been no notification under Sec.6 of the said Act. ACCORDING to the petitioner, he is therefore entitled to dig a bore well in his property. The officials have not raised any objection. But respondents 7 and 8 are raising objections to such digging of the bore well. ACCORDING to the petitioner, respondents 7 and 8 are not prompted by bona fides. There are other bore wells dug in the locality. They had not raised any objection. The petitioner's request to the police officials to enable him to dig the bore well have fallen on deaf ears and had not evoked any action. It is, in these circumstances, that the petitioner has come to this Court.

(3.) ACCORDING to them, the ground water level in the locality is going down due to over exploitation of the water source. If the petitioner were also permitted to dig a bore well, that would affect the water table and would consequently affect the availability of water for the others in the locality. They further raised an objection that the requisite permission from the local authority under the Kerala Municipalities Building Rules has not been obtained by the petitioner.