HC Flags Gurugram Water Crisis, Sets Oct 1 Hearing

GURUGRAM: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has taken serious note of depleting groundwater and potable water stress in the city, calling for aggressive remedial measures and listing the matter for hearing on 1 October with senior Gurugram officers present on video conference.

A Bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor, in an order dated 22 September in a case on preservation of groundwater within municipal limits, said the city was witnessing a water crisis due to the non-availability of potable water and severe waterlogging during monsoons. The Bench said that unless appropriate and effective measures were pursued aggressively, the situation was likely to remain grim as urbanisation and population growth continue, given Gurugram's proximity to the National Capital.

The Court observed that indiscriminate use of borewells had led to continuous depletion of groundwater over decades. It noted that existing natural water bodies had substantially diminished and that channels which sustained those water bodies remained largely blocked. While the city faces severe monsoon waterlogging, the rainwater so accumulated is not being effectively used to replenish depleting groundwater, the Bench said. It also flagged issues around proper utilisation of treated water and sewage treatment plants.

Oct 1 hearing and officers who must join

The Court asked parties to submit written suggestions on remedial measures and listed the matter for 1 October to hear authorities posted in Gurugram. The Deputy Commissioner has been directed to join through video conferencing along with the heads of relevant departments. The Chief Engineer of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and the officers-in-charge of the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran and the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority must also remain present through video conferencing on the date fixed.

For households already living with tanker schedules and summer pressure drops, the order puts borewells, blocked water bodies, waterlogging and treated-water reuse on one judicial agenda. For MCG, HSVP and GMDA, 1 October is a coordination test: the Court wants the district head and the engineering and development leads on the same call with written suggestions, not separate agency notes that never meet.

The Bench has not prescribed a single engineering fix in the order summarised this week. It has said aggressive measures are required and fixed a date when the city's top civic and development officers must answer together. That framing turns a long-running groundwater complaint into a near-term accountability hearing for the agencies that run supply, drainage and land development in Gurugram.