HC pulls up Pune civic body over construction nods amid water

The Bombay High Court today warned the Pune Municipal Corporation that it will not be allowed to grant permission for construction of new buildings if it fails to file a satisfactory response on tackling acute water scarcity in the city.
A division bench of the Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice G S Kulkarni was hearing a public interest litigation which raised concern over water shortage in Pune and sought direction to the civic body for necessary steps.
The bench asked the PMC if it has conducted any scientific study to ascertain the water requirement for the city in near future.

"You (PMC) must have a vision. Development should be planned in such a way that everyone gets basic amenities like water. There is no survey conducted... The civic body has no idea what is the water requirement," the bench said.
Chief Justice Chellur said the civic body was only bothered about generating revenue by granting permissions for new constructions.
"You are not bothered about providing basic amenities to people. Last year only there was drought in the state. Now this year you have forgotten," he said.
The bench directed the civic body to file an affidavit detailing the number of permissions it has given for new constructions since 2015, the number of flats in each building and the water requirement.

"If the affidavit is not satisfactory then we will restrain you (PMC) from granting any further permissions," the HC said and posted the petition for further hearing on March 24.