IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.9404 of 2009 Date of decision: 31st July, 2009 Tejbir … Petitioner Versus State of Haryana and others … Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE T.S. THAKUR HOB’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. Vivek Singla, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Randhir Singh, Additional Advocate General, Haryana for the respondents. Notes: 1. Whether Reporters of local newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. In the present writ petition, filed in public interest, petitioner has questioned the decision of the Government of Haryana to abolish Public Health Division No.2 of Karnal and attachment of Public Health Sub Division of Gharaunda with Rewari. According to the petitioner, this arrangement will not only cause inconvenience to the residents of Gharaunda but is also not in the interest of all concerned, i.e. consumers, department and the Government. The petitioner has averred in the writ petition that in the year 1990, Government of Haryana established Public Health Division No.2, Karnal for better administration, supply of water and sanitation system. Civil Writ Petition No. 9404 of 2009 Public Health Division No.2, Karnal consisted of four big towns, namely Gharaunda, Neelokheri, Trauri and Assandh and cater to 295 villages falling in these four Sub Divisions. This Division had approximately 31755 water connections and 673 sewerage connections. The petitioner has rued the decision of the Government of Haryana to detach Sub Division of Gharaunda from already existing Public Health Division No.2, Karnal, and to attach it with Public Health Division, Rewari and attachment of remaining Division No.2, Karnal with Superintending Engineer, Public Health Sector Jind, as this will cause inconvenience to public at large, as for petty matters regarding redressal of complaints and deposit of bills, residents of Gharaunda will have to travel for 20/30 kms. The petitioner has also pleaded discrimination as the Chief Minister of Haryana, on the representation of people from Narayangarh Division, had stayed the decision affecting the people of Narayangarh. The petitioner pray that similarly the representation of people of Gharaunda ought to have been accepted by the Government. State of Haryana had filed the written statement, in which it has been stated that there was a need to re-organize the structure of administrative units of various Circles at Division level for efficient management of water supply and sewerage system. Therefore, necessity arose to shift, abolish and merge certain Sub Divisions, as per the administrative requirements, to provide better services and to have optimum use of available resources. Government of Haryana had issued office order (Annexure P- 1), whereby Public Health Division No.2, Karnal was re-named as Public Health Division No.2, Kaithal and after detaching it from Superintending Engineer, Public Health Sector Karnal, it was attached with Superintending Engineer, Public Health Sector Jind. Public Health Sub 2 Civil Writ Petition No. 9404 of 2009 Division, Gharaunda was taken out of this newly named Division and attached with Public Health Sub Division No.3, Rewari. A perusal of Annexure P-1 reveal that various Sub Divisions have been attached or merged with newly formed Divisions. It is not only the Sub Division of Gharaunda, which after detachment, has been attached with another Division but this exercise has been undertaken qua many other Sub Divisions. Therefore, it can be safely inferred that there is no pick and chose, but it is an exercise to overhaul the system. Restructuring has been done as per the administrative needs and process of re-organization has been initiated. To allay any apprehension of the petitioner, it has been stated in the written statement that the Junior Engineer incharge of the Gharaunda town and adjoining area will continue to be stationed at Gharaunda. It has been further stated that the complaint of residents of the town and adjoining area will continue to be redressed by same authority i.e. Junior Engineer as earlier. It has been further stated that no inconvenience will be caused to the public “as complaint centers and bill depositing centers are not going to change and will continue at the same place/ locations as earlier”. We have heard counsel for the parties. We are of the view that water management and running of sewerage system can best be left to the technocrats, who possess requisite skills, expertise and specialization. This Court shall refrain, on the asking of the petitioner, to impose its opinion as to how the concerned department can function well. Once the respondents have assured that mechanism of redressing the complaints and deposit of bills is intact, there is no justification for us to interfere and accept the prayer of the petitioner. 3 Civil Writ Petition No. 9404 of 2009 Hence, there is no merit in the present writ petition and the same is dismissed without any order as to costs. [T. S. THAKUR] CHIEF JUSTICE [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE July 31, 2009 rps 4