The Dehradun based students activist group, Making a Difference by Being the Difference (MAD) has submitted a second dossier to the State Irrigation secretary Ajay Pradyot comprising two judicial rulings which mandate the State Government to not only preserve and conserve water bodies but also rejuvenate them.
According to MAD, “Citing a Supreme Court Case of Hinch lal Tiwari versus Kamla Devi, we have also drawn the attention of the State Government to an Allahabad High Court Case of Iqbal Ahmed versus Director Consolidation, wherein the Uttar Pradesh Government has taken steps for reviving its water bodies, when the High Court directed not just the State Government but also all of the 72 District Magistrates of Uttar Pradesh to clear illegal construction on dried ponds and to revive them. Our dossier points out that unfortunately Uttarakhand had just been formed then (in 2001) and hence the ruling had no impact on the State’s water bodies. The Uttarakhand High Court is yet to see a litigation of this kind and hence MAD has urged the Government to be pro-active and begin concerted action on saving streams like Bindal
and Rispana.”
Chief Minister Harish Rawat as the then Union Minister for Water Resources acting on MAD’s petition in January 2014 had first sanctioned a study by National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee on Doon’s streams. An application under the Right To Information Act seeking a release of the institute’s report is also pending at NIH Roorkee, according to MAD.