Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has directed authorities to update the status report on steps taken for the conservation and preservation of the water bodies in Kashmir including Dal Lake.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), a division bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Puneet Gupta also granted four weeks to the government for filing fresh report on the Committee headed by the Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department (H&UDD) regarding various aspects of Dal Lake.
These directions came following the submissions by LAWDA’s law officer that the order passed by the court on February 27 could not be complied with for the reasons that draft report is before the Government for approval.
“As and when the necessary approval is accorded, a fresh report shall be submitted in the Court,” he said. At the same time, he prayed for and was granted four weeks time by the court to file the fresh status report. “The respondents shall also update the status report as to the steps taken for the conservation and preservation of the water bodies in terms of the orders passed by this Court from time to time,” the court said.
In February this year, the Court had granted the government two weeks to submit the report of a Committee which was constituted in December last year.
Among others, the panel was tasked with the duty to determine the buffer zones around Dal Lake and allied water bodies falling under the Srinagar Metropolitan Region.