NT Reporter
Panaji
The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Monday directed the secretary of the
Water Resources Department (WRD) to intervene and oversee the sealing of illegal borewells in the Chimbel area.
The High Court expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of enforcement. It said that although 70 illegal borewells were identified in Dharwadkar Colony and Serrao Colony in April, only 27 have been dealt with so far. The division bench comprising Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Hiten S Venegavkar joined the secretary as respondent in
the ongoing public interest litigation.
The High Court said, “We expect that with the intervention of the WRD secretary the identification of all illegal borewells in the said area is completed by the next date of hearing
and positive action is taken to seal such bore wells which are unlicensed under the Act.”
The High Court also said that the WRD shall not
grant permission for the regularisation of bore wells in the subject area until the next hearing.
The order came after the court was informed that 12 individuals who had illegally constructed borewells in the colonies had recently applied for regularisation in an attempt to bypass enforcement action.
The High Court said that, from the figures placed before it, the WRD was “obviously moving very slow” in identifying the locations of the borewells in the two colonies.
The court reminded the department of its powers under Section 13 of the Goa Ground Water Act, 2002, which permit officials to enter premises and use force, if necessary, to carry out inspections. To ensure the safety of officers, the Police Inspector of Old Goa Police Station has been directed to provide all necessary personnel to assist in the identification and sealing operations.
The petition, filed by Ana Gracias, has been listed for further hearing on July 15 by which time the
secretary has been directed to ensure that site
inspections are completed and all unlicensed borewells are sealed.
