The Himachal Pradesh High Court today granted bail to a Junior Engineer of Irrigation and Public health (I and PH) department arrested in the jaundice outbreak case.
Justice Rajeev Sharma granted bail to Roop Lal Gautam who was booked under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 20,000 and surety of same amount and overruled the objections of the Advocate general opposing the bail.
However, the Court directed him to make himself available for interrogation, if so required, and regularly attend the trial court on each and every date of hearing.
The petitioner was working as Junior Engineer in I and PH Department, Kasumpti, and was also assigned the duties of Ashwani Khad water lifting scheme.
On Janary 5 this year, a complaint was filed by the Deputy Mayor of Shimla Municipal corporation, Tikender Singh Panwar, for registration of FIR against the contractor of sewerage treatment plant, Dhalli and Malyana.
The counsel for the petitioner argued that one of the co-accused, namely, Hem Chand Chauhan, in the same FIR has been released by this Court.
The court observed that the investigations in the case were complete, no recovery was to be effected from the petitioner and no useful purpose would be served by keeping the petitioner behind the bars.
"It was the collective responsibility of all the officers such as Additional Chief Secretary and Engineer-in-Chief and Superintending Engineer of I and PH Department to maintain the treatment plants and to ensure potable water to the citizens," the Court in its order said.
The court pulled up the police and said that "it is also intriguing to note that the police has only registered FIR against the officers/officials of I and PH Department while it is the constitutional/statutory duty of the Municipal Corporation, Shimla, to provide potable water to the inhabitants of the town but no arrest of its technical officers/officials has been made.
"It was expected from the state to apply the law
uniformly and take action against the seniormost officers/officials of the Municipal Corporation, Shimla, taking into consideration the epidemic situation prevailing in the town, which has led to loss of valuable human lives," the court said.
It said that thousands of persons have contacted jaundice due to sheer negligence of the technical officer/officials who were responsible to maintain water supply to the town.
The officers/officials of the H.P. State Pollution Control Board(PCB) are also remiss in the discharge of their duties as it is the prime responsibility of the officers/officials of PCB to ensure strict compliance of the mandatory provisions of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Environment Protection Act, 1986, the Court said, adding "iit was also expected from the state to take stern action against the officers/officials of PCB."
The order said that "the court has gathered the impression that lower officials are being booked and made scapegoat under various penal laws but the highest officers are dealt with leniently for the reasons best known to the functionaries of the state."
The court directed that henceforth, the state government would ensure that all the treatment plants throughout Himachal are run by the officers/officials of I and PH Department alone in order to ensure quality/safety of water.
The samples of water supplied to all the towns in the state should be lifted every 48 hours to maintain its quality and inorder to ensure that there is no recurrence of jaundice, the Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary and Engineer-in-Chief (I and PH), all the Superintending Engineers (I and PH), Commissioners of Municipal Corporations, Executive Officers of Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats shall be personally responsible to ensure the potable water supply throughout the state.
Every person has a right to potable water under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and it is expected from the state at least to provide potable water if not other basic amenities to say the least, said the HC.
Since every third person in the family residing in Shimla town is seriously affected with jaundice, it is the prime duty of the state government that the patients are treated free of cost in all state-run district-level hospitals, Community Health Centres/Primary Health Centres and to maintain their records properly.
The figure of jaundice-affected persons given by the state is on the lower side since most of the patients have got their blood samples analyzed from private laboratories.
