HYDERABAD: A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar of the AP High Court on Thursday declined to stay the Rs 7,390-crore drinking water supply scheme at chief minster Kiran Kumar Reddy's native district Chittoor. The bench, however, directed the state to file an affidavit stating whether the legislative approval is required for such schemes or not.

The bench was dealing with a PIL filed by TRS MLA T Harish Rao contending that there was no approval from the Cabinet for the execution of the project. The project is being taken up by Infrastructure Corporation of AP to provide water from the Kandaleru storage dam to Tirupati, Tirumala, Chittoor, Madanapalle, Palamaner and Punganur towns apart from scores of other villages in the district.

The state government had contended that the scheme was approved by the Cabinet and placed the note pertaining to the approval before the court. After doubts raised by the bench, the Chief Secretary on Thursday filed an affidavit assuring the court that it was the original note and that there were no discrepancies in it.

D Prakash Reddy, a senior counsel on behalf of the petitioner, stated that the Constitution of India mandates that there should be a legislative approval for schemes in which resources from the Consolidated Fund are to be allocated.

While the budget allocation for 23 districts for water facility is Rs 6017 crore, the chief minister decided to execute a single scheme with an outlay of Rs 7,390-crore for his native district, Reddy argued. The government has also agreed to extend the bank guarantee to the scheme, he added.

The petitioner's counsel pointed out that the government is pushing things hurriedly to implement the project by depriving the supply of protected water to other districts, especially, the fluoride-affected ones like Nalgonda. A PIL was also pending before this court with regard to fluoride affected villages in Nalgonda district.

However, Justice Sengupta advised the counsel to make a special mention at some other time on the fluoride affected villages. He made it clear that the court will not grant any interim order at this stage.

The bench told the government to file the affidavit by January 27. The registry was directed to post the case after four weeks.