The Himachal Pradesh High Court today issued notice to State and its officers following number of complaints from various parts of Solan district reporting poisoning of drinking water tanks and sources seeking report in the matter within two weeks. The Court directed the Chief Secretary Mr. V.C. Pharka and Secretary IPH and Deputy Commissioner and S.P., Solan and Superintendent engineer IPH, Solan to file the reply within two weeks in a matter pertaining to the increasing cases of contaminated water tanks in Solan District.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan passed these orders on a petition taken up suo moto by the Court as Public Interest Litigation on a news item published in a English daily on Sep 30, 2016 under title “Solan, Three school water tanks found ‘poisoned” investigation on. It was reported in the paper that three water tank at local school in Sabathu area of Solan district were found to have been poisoned over the last three days, posing a challenge for the district administration to ensure safety of drinking water sources. The matter would be now listed before the court on 22nd October, 2016 for further hearing.