JETPUR NAGAR PALIKA Vs. EXECUTIVE ENGINEER AND ANOTHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner-Jetput Nagar Palika has prayed for appropriate writ restraining the respondents from demanding any amount by way of water charges from the petitioner Municipality for the supply of water from Bhadar Dam.

(2.) The petitioner municipality is constituted under the provisions of sections 4 and 5 of Gujarat Municipalities Act 1963. It is the case of the petitioner municipality that Jetput Municipality had come into existence in the year 1950. The municipality used to supply water to the people of Jetput from the well at Harve Ghat in Bhadar river. Said water supply scheme was made applicable to the Jetput Municipality in the year 1955-56 for supplying water to the residents of Jetput town. Jetput town is situated on the bank of river Bhadar and people of Jetput used to get water from the river Bhadar before the implementation of the aforesaid water supply scheme.

(3.) It is not in dispute that construction of Bhadar Dam was taken up in the year 1956 and was completed in the year 1964. The grievance of the petitioner municipality is that on account of the construction of Bhadar Dam, the wells and the infiltration gallery became dry and useless for the purpose of taking water from the said wells. The Executive Engineer, Rajkot Irrigation Division has denied the said allegation of the petitioner-municipality by filing affidavit in reply.