IMPORTANT POINT
The Municipality has a statutory obligation to restore and maintain public watercourses, ensuring environmental hygiene and preventing flooding.

JUDGMENT :

W.P (C) No.16901 of 2021

The prayers in the Writ Petition (Civil) are as follows:

“(i) issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or such other writ, direction or order, directing respondents 4 to 12, not to interfere with the petitioner's property situated at Resurvey Nos. 17, 32, 33, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 and 65 of Block No. 35 in Peroorkada Village in Thiruvananthapuram Taluk in Thiruvananthapuram District;

(ii) issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or such other writ, direction or order, directing respondents 1 to 10, to restore the original lie and nature of the petitioner's property situated at Resurvey Nos. 17, 32, 33, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 and 65 of Block No. 35 in Peroorkada Village in Thiruvananthapuram Taluk in Thiruvananthapuram District by filling up the illegally dug water channel/drainage at the instance of 11^th and 12^th respondents;

(iii) issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or such other writ, direction or order, directing Respondents 1-4 to institute departmental disciplinary proceedings against Respondents 11 and 12 for their illegal actions in having trespassed into and illegally dug water channel/drainage in the petitioner's property;

(iv) issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or such other writ, direction or order, directing 5^th respondent to implement the Ext. P25 decision within a time frame to be decided by this Hon'ble Court;

(v) issue a writ in the nature of mandamus or such other writ, direction or order, directing 9^th and 10^th respondents to implement the Ext.P13 order within a time frame to be decided by this Hon'ble Court

(vi) pass such other orders that this Honourable Court deems fit and proper in the nature and circumstances of the case;

(vii) to award costs”

2. Heard Sri.George Varghese Perumpallikuttiyil, the learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri.Suman Chakravarthy, the learned Standing Counsel for Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and the learned Government Pleader.

3. The learned counsel for the petitioner confined his reliefs to give a direction to Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to restore the channel (cheruthodu) that originally existed in Block No.35 of Peroorkada Village in Thiruvananthapuram Taluk.

4. The petitioner owns the properties in Resurvey Nos.17, 32, 33, 60, 61, 62, 63 and 65 of Block No.35 of Peroorkada Village in Thiruvananthapuram District. The petitioner's properties adjoin Edakkulam Thodu with a ridge pathway beside it. The Edakkulam Devi Nagar-Karoorkonam Colony Edavazhi was originally a water channel of approximately about 1 to 1 ½ meters in width and a walking ridge. It served as a stormwater drain during rainy seasons and was used by the local residents as a pathway. The natural flow of water in the region is from north to south and the drain used to proceed south finally joins the drains maintained by the Corporation on the side of the Hindustan Latex-Devi Nagar road.

5. As time passed, with a view to developing a new road over the natural drain, some local residents filled up the channel. They represented that steps had been taken by the Kerala Water Authority to lay sewage pipes to facilitate the smooth flow of drain water.

6. Consequently, the natural flow of the water became blocked, and the area started flooding. In her attempt to eliminate the nuisance by way of flooding and restore the channel that originally existed, the petitioner approached the District Collector, Thiruvananthapuram (Respondent No.4), under Section 133 Cr.PC seeking to abate nuisance. She approached the Water Authority by filing a petition to restore the channel which functioned as a drainage. She preferred a petition before the District Collector seeking issuance of directions to the competent authorities to redress her grievances.

7. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner had approached this Court after exhausting all alternative efficacious remedies. The learned counsel further submitted that the reports submitted by the revenue authorities during different stages of