M. Venugopal, S. Vaidyanathan, JJ.

(Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking for a direction to the respondents to institute appropriate Water Management Systems based on standard specifications, modern technology and GPS based instruments to achieve optimum utilization of all the water bodies situated within the city of Chennai and its suburban areas to guarantee no wastage of water into the sea, within a time frame to be prescribed by this Hon'ble Court.)

“No matter, how much rich you are, you cannot live without Air & Water.” - So goes the Adage

This Court fervently opines that the present order may be an eye opener on the need to conserve water, as accumulation of wealth will be of no use for survival of our future generation, but it is only unpolluted Water and Fresh Air, which are essential to enjoy all the spheres of life.

The Writ Petition, which was specifically posted before this Bench for hearing on the orders of the Hon'ble Chief Justice, has been filed by way of Public Interest Litigation, seeking to direct the Respondents to institute appropriate Water Management Systems based on standard specifications, modern technology and GPS based instruments to achieve optimum utilization of all the water bodies situated within the City of Chennai and its Sub-Urban areas so as to ensure no wastage of water into the sea.

2. Heard the Petitioner-in-Person, the Learned Additional Advocate General, duly assisted by the Learned Government Advocate for R1 to R4 and R6 and the learned Standing Counsel for R5.

3. The facts, leading to filing of this Writ Petition, are as follows:

(i) The Petitioner-in-Person (in short 'the Petitioner') has stated that several Writ Petitions, including W.P.No.39234 of 2015 are pending, in respect of an issue relating to flooding of the City, which had happened in the month of November/December, 2015 due to excess rain. The Petitioner has further stated that the main object in filing of this Writ petition is to implement the appropriate Water Management Systems through improvements in the maintenance and storage capacities, inter-connectivity between the storage tanks, construction and regular maintenance of Channels and Canals as per Indian Standard Specifications and installation of suitable flood control equipments in the short term, as being done in other parts of the Country/World. In other words, the Petitioner has prayed for appropriate preventive measures to avoid a similar calamity, which had occurred in 2015 in future through improvement in systems, practices and monitoring, based on modern technology, which could substantially reduce the dependence on human responses.

(ii) The Petitioner has insisted upon taking stringent actions against all the persons, who were negligent in taking prompt actions and for their dereliction of duties during the recent floods, which had devastated the entire Chennai City and Sub-Urban areas. It was submitted that it is the right time to bring in necessary changes to avoid recurrences of similar damages in future;

(iii) The Petitioner has stated that he is the owner of some immovable properties, situated near to Chembarambakkam lake and the surrounding areas on the route of water flow upto Adayar river and has experienced similar problems of varying magnitudes during the previous years also due to rains and associated problems of lack of free flow and non-availability of adequate storage of water in the above areas. He has also pointed out that a flood of more or less same magnitude had happened in the year 1985, which had forced even the then Chief Minister late M.G.Ramachandran to shift his residence from Ramapuram to a hotel at T.Nagar.

(iv) It was submitted that on account of growth in the population, there was no provisions for ground water retention and the only solution to the problem is to introduce moder