No more free water in Delhi? Why you may have to pay up

The Delhi High Court today sought the AAP government's stand on a PIL opposing its scheme of providing 20,000 litres of free water per month to each household in the national capital. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the Delhi government and its water distributing authority, Delhi Jal Board (DJB), seeking their responses to the plea by November 19, the next date of hearing.

The petitioners, both advocates, have said in their plea that water, being a fast depleting resource, ought not to be given away free in such huge quantities, especially when several areas of the city do not have water pipelines and depend on tankers for supply. Advocates Tajinder Singh and Anurag Chauhan have sought setting aside of the Delhi government's February 25, 2015 decision to provide 20,000 litres of free water to each household in the city and the subsequent DJB order notifying it on February 27, 2015.

The petition has alleged that "the scheme was launched without conducting proper research with regard to production, recycling and supplying of water in Delhi".