‘BMC chairman can’t pass order to cut water supply’

The Bombay high court (HC) has passed strictures against Yashwant Jadhav, chairman of the BMCs standing committee for issuing a water disconnection order on December

The Bombay high court (HC) has passed strictures against Yashwant Jadhav, chairman of the BMCs standing committee for issuing a water disconnection order on December 9, 2019. The HC held that the chairman had no authority or power to pass such orders. The HC has also directed the BMC to ‘restore status ante’ (status prior to the order) with regards to the supply of water to the beneficiary.

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The division bench of justices, SJ Kathawalla and BP Colabawalla were hearing two petitions filed by water service providers involved in supplying potable water to sea bound ships docking at Reti Bundar at Reay Road.

While the first petitioner Harbour Water Suppliers was aggrieved by the abrupt discontinuation of water supply by the BMC on December 3, the second petitioner OK Marine claimed that though they had been licensed by the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) to supply potable water to ships in 2018, the BMC had not started providing water to the pipeline they had installed.

While dealing with the grievances of Harbour Water, the bench was informed by advocate Gauraj Shah that they had been in the business of supplying potable water to ships for 37 years. In 2014, MbPT informed them that their contract had expired and hence could not continue their business. A previous bench of the HC had directed both the MbPT and BMC to maintain status quo and they continued with the water supply business.

However, on December 3, the BMC abruptly discontinued the supply of water which was around 3.6 lakh litres per day without following any procedure. This was in violation of the HC order. Shah further submitted that on December 9, they received a letter from the hydraulic department of the BMC stating that the water supply was discontinued based on a decision of the standing committee chairman and his MLA wife Yamini Jadhav.

Counsel for OK Marine advocate DA Nalavade argued that as they were the sole licensees and their water supply should be continued, implying that the disconnection of Harbour Water’s supply was justified.

Special counsel for BMC, senior advocate Girish Godbole admitted that due procedure was not followed while disconnecting the water supply of Harbour Water Suppliers. He added that as there was another application from OK Marine for the supply of three lakh litres of potable water per day. Hence, owing to technical difficulties, the BMC could not provide 6.6 lakh litres per day.

After hearing the arguments, the bench said, “Just because you are in power you cannot act arbitrarily.” The bench further said that as the chairman had no powers to act on behalf of the corporation, the order of December 9 was being set aside. “We are passing strictures against the chairman, and direct the BMC to restore status ante the water supply to Harbour,” said the bench while reserving its order.

The court declined to entertain the plea of OK Marine and said that it was for the petitioner to pursue the issue with the BMC, and said that the ineligibility of Harbour Water would be decided in the previous petition they had filed, hence not they were commenting on it either.