Consumers can take action if the water they are supplied is not fit for consumption and get redressal. Nearly two decades ago in the celebrated case of the Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC) versus the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, it was clearly spelt out that a local body is guilty of deficiency of service if it supplies non-potable water to consumers. What is applicable to a public body can be extended to a private contractor supplying water.
The Groundwater Management Rules make it mandatory for every owner of a borewell to get all details about it registered with the authority.
This is a legal safeguard intended to store information about different sources of water available in the state and its equitable use for the greatest common good.
As poor quality of water is a health hazard, the public authorities (general administration, health care authorities and the police) can take action in the matter to restore public order and health.
You don't need to invent a new perfect law to deal with issues like these. It is the corporations and legislature, which need to swing into action by acting on the spirit of the law to empower the disempowered. A little imagination and doing one’s assigned duties is all that is required .
The writer is a law professor with the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
