‘Court orders only burden records, show us results’: Bombay HC questions state’s claims on Melghat water supply

3 min readMumbaiJun 24, 2026 10:54 AM IST

The state lawyer claimed that two tankers were provided every day to the villages concerned, amounting to nearly 20 litres of water per person. (Express Photo)

Remarking that several orders passed on concerns over malnutrition in tribal regions of Maharashtra merely burden court records due to the lack of action by authorities, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked the state government to verify claims of non-provision of drinking water to villages in the Melghat region of Amravati district.

A bench of Justices Ajey S Gadkari and Kamal R Khata made the remarks while hearing PILs raising concerns over malnutrition among children, pregnant women and lactating mothers in Melghat in Amravati district and other tribal regions of Maharashtra.

On June 22, the HC had observed that citizens were forced to approach courts for basic necessities like water even after over 75 years of Independence. It had slammed the Maharashtra government over the continued lack of access to potable drinking water in Melghat and other regions of the state, and sought a concrete, time-bound plan consisting of immediate steps to ensure water supply across these regions.

Senior advocate Jugal Kishore Gilda and advocate Uday Warunjikar, appearing for the petitioners, claimed that nearly 30 villages in the Dharani and Chikhaldara areas of the Melghat region were not getting even “a drop of” drinking water till date.

“What is the purpose of the scheme (for drinking water supply)? Just see, in the last so many years, how many orders have been passed and how many judges have authored various orders. It only burdens the records of the court and does nothing more than that. Show us the result,” Justice Gadkari orally told the state government.

The government lawyer stated that authorities, including the Zilla Parishad, have been periodically monitoring the situation in over 300 villages in Melghat for the last two months and that they would provide drinking water facilities wherever they are not available.

“You have to monitor for the people of a particular village whether water is provided by the local authority or not. Show us if it is provided. Show us statements from the villagers that they have received drinking water. The reports are prepared while sitting in offices and chambers. This is not reality. Show us evidence that the people concerned have received drinking water,” the judges orally remarked.

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The state lawyer claimed that two tankers were provided every day to the villages concerned, amounting to nearly 20 litres of water per person. The HC questioned that if this was so, why the petitioners were not coming forward and stating that they were receiving at least some water, instead of the standard 55 litres per person per day.

The bench said that 20 litres of water per person shall be provided immediately and that it would also ascertain which villages are not receiving sufficient water during the next hearing on Thursday, June 25.