One more legal battle has seen local self-governance emerge stronger in Kerala. On December 5, the Kerala High Court (hc) disposed of a drinking water production unit's petition challenging the decision of a panchayat to cancel its licence over the issue of groundwater extraction. A single bench of the hc, comprising Justice K Balakrishnan Nair, ruled that water cannot be drawn for a commercial venture without the permission of the village body.

While the petitioner in the case was Sunitha Kurien Thomas, who started the Pure Packaged Drinking Water unit two years ago, the respondent was Chottanikkara Gram Panchayat of Ernakulam district. The plant was set up in Ward No 1 of the panchayat under the Rural Employment Generation Programme of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission.

Thomas claimed that before digging two open wells she had obtained the village body's clearance to extract groundwater under section 233 of the Kerala Panchayati Raj Act. But even as the trial run of the plant was about to get underway, the Kudivella Samrakshana Samithy (kss)