Extraction of water through illegal borewells not less than sin: Delhi HC
New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI): Extraction of water through illegal borewells is nothing less than a sin, the Delhi High Court has observed while calling for imposition of "some kind of deterrence" on offenders.
The high court lamented that if such illegal borewells are not stopped, Delhi might end up facing a similar situation as happened in South Africa's Johannesburg a few years back when the city had no water.
"Some kind of deterrence needs to be imposed. It is nothing less than a sin the way illegal borewells are reducing the water level. Do you know what happened in Johannesburg? A few years ago the city had no water for several months. They faced a major water crisis. Do you want that situation to come up in Delhi also?" said a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela on April 9.
The court questioned the civic authorities as to how they could even permit borewells that too for constructions.
The court was hearing a plea by Sunil Kumar Sharma, an advocate, claiming that several borewells or submersible pumps were illegally installed at an under construction building at Goenka Road in Roshanara area here and sought their removal.
The petitioner also informed the court that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has responded in an RTI application that six borewells were found installed in the building.
Whereas, the SDM of Daryaganj has responded to the RTI application that three borewells were found in the building, which have been sealed, Sharma said.
The court ordered a joint survey of the property by high ranking officials of the MCD, DJB and SHO of the area.
"Having regard to the ever decreasing water level on account of such illegal activities, we direct a survey be conducted of such building by a team of high ranking officials nominated by the MCD commissioner, Delhi Jal Board CEO respectively and the SHO of police station concerned," the bench said, adding that the team should conduct the survey within 10 days and file a report.
The court also directed that if any illegal borewell is found functional at the site, appropriate action be taken by the authorities.
It further directed if the survey team finds that illegal borewells were earlier functional, it should mention in its report about the number of such machines and since when they were functional.
On the basis of findings of the report, it would consider imposing environmental compensation on the building owners for causing harm to water level, the bench said and listed the matter for further hearing on July 30.
The petitioner claimed in the plea that the building owner was constructing around 100 flats on the plot and the borewells were causing substantial harm to the residents of the area and it could also damage the environment.
He said that he has given representations to the authorities but no action has been taken.
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Rupee strengthens past 90/USD level in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 24 paise to 89.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, supported by corporate dollar inflows and easing crude oil prices.
Forex traders said the gain in the USD/INR pair follows the rupee’s string of record lows in recent weeks on likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, crude oil prices hovering around USD 59 per barrel level supported market sentiment.
ALSO READ:Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early trade
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.19 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.96 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 24 paise over its previous close.
In initial trade it also touched 90.22 against the American currency. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 18 paise against the US dollar to close at 90.20 against the greenback.
The rupee sank to a fresh record low, breaching the 91-a-dollar mark for the first time on Tuesday.
"Since the speculators are out of the market the buying of US dollar syndrome has come down a bit though intra-day we could see spikes," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
The US CPI came lower than expected but was also due to non-collection of sufficient data and therefore, the next month’s CPI becomes more important, Bhansali said, adding that "Rupee remains in a range of 90-90.50".
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 98.46.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.27 per cent at USD 59.66 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 375.98 points to 84,857.79, while the Nifty was up 110.60 points to 25,934.15.
Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 595.78 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Thursday said he is not concerned about the rupee at all, arguing that even China and Japan witnessed exchange rate weaknesses during their high growth phases.
Speaking at 'Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2025', Sanyal said since the 90s, the rupee has mostly been allowed to find its own level, but the RBI uses its reserves to intervene in either direction to stop excessive volatility.
"I am not concerned about the rupee at all... Let me say that the rupee and its current weakness should not be necessarily conflated with some economic worry, because historically, if you go over time, you will see that economies that are in their high growth phase very often go through a phase of exchange rate weakness," he said.
