LUCKNOW, Jan. 6 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Monday directed to implead the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) through its vice chairman (VC) as the opposite party in the matter pertaining to providing clean drinking water to the people of Lucknow. The high court also directed a notice be served on its (LDA's) counsel, as it is informed that for implementation of the proposal made by the concerned officials in terms of "our earlier order", the LDA will have a role to play in the matter. The officers who were asked to join the proceedings shall do so again through video conferencing tomorrow (Tuesday), the court ordered. This order was passed by a division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary on Monday while hearing a PIL filed by Utkarsh Lok Sewa Sansthan in 2016, seeking directives for the provision of clean drinking water in Lucknow. Earlier, the court had directed the chief engineer, irrigation department and the managing director of the UP Jal Nigam to join proceedings through video conferencing, on October 15, 2025. The court had directed the principal secretary, Nagar Vikas (urban development), Government of U.P. to file an affidavit(reply). The court also had issued a notice to the newly impleaded party - the Central Water Commission - in this matter. At the time of hearing the matter on Monday, the counsel appearing for the Central Water Commission stated that the desired affidavit will be filed by tomorrow (Tuesday). On this submission, the court directed to put up this case on January 6 as the first case of the day. MANOJ KUMAR SINGH...