Delhi Police arrears: NGT asks DJB to submit water bills

The National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to submit copies of water bills generated by it to the Delhi police to ascertain their water consumption.
A bench headed by Justice Jawad Rahim asked DJB to furnish the particulars with regard to the charges for water consumption payable by the police department within two weeks.
"The police department shall, within one week after receipt of the bills, file their response if any," the bench said while posting the matter for hearing on May 19.
The NGT was hearing a plea filed by Delhi resident Sanjay Kumar who had claimed that he has learnt through RTI replies that Delhi Police has not paid its water bills to DJB amounting to over Rs 232 crore.

The police told the tribunal that they have already paid approximately Rs 65 crore after the filing of this petition and DJB has till date not given them separate bill for the consumption of water.
DJB counsel said it provided bulk connections to various government departments and if any separate meter has to be installed, then an application for a fresh connection is needed.

The plea, filed through advocate Gaurav Bansal, had sought directions to the Delhi Police to pay pending water bills including cess to the Delhi Government so that the amount could be used by the latter for the welfare of the people of National Capital.

Earlier, the police had claimed that DJB was claiming commercial rates for its residential complexes and had no specific record of the water connections installed at various locations.
It had also said that the Jal Board had no proof of the bills and meter readings in respect of their pending claims because majority of the bills were 8-10 years old.