MC keymen under high court lens
HC ASKED THE CIVIC BODY AND STATE LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITIES TO EDUCATE THE MASSES ABOUT CONSERVING WATER THROUGH JINGLES
SHIMLA: The Himachal high court on Friday directed the civic authorities to keep all ‘keymen’, who are responsible for supplying water in localities, under surveillance to check its equitable distribution.
A division bench comprising acting chief justice Sanjay Karol and justice Ajay Mohan Goyal observed that ‘keyman’ is a highly important and essential person for the proper functioning of the civic department. “In terms of distribution of water to Shimla town, keyman not only holds key to it, but in fact on strength of key, he can put entire town to ransom,” the bench observed.
The court directed the municipal corporation (MC) to create a whatsapp group to share information on water received from different schemes. It directed junior engineer to share details of the keymen releasing water and time of closure on the whatsapp group. The court had also put keymen under surveillance. “All keymen in the area will be accompanied by two police officials and the activity of turning the keys on and off shall be video graphed,” the court ordered.
It asked MC and the state legal services authorities to educate the masses about conserving water through jingles.
HC directed the elected members of MC to “co-operate” in water distribution. It also ordered action against persons misusing domestic water connections for commercial purposes.
It directed the state government to ensure that ‘no dharnas’ take place during water distribution. The court clarified that extent of water to be distributed and timings with regard is left solely to the discretion of committee headed by the MC commissioner.
Taking into consideration the historic importance of Shimla, that attracts tourists from the entire world, the judges asked the media to exercise restraint and not sensationalise the issue so as to dissuade the tourists from visiting Shimla. HC directed the MC commissioner and secretary tourism to appear in person at the court on June 11. HTC