Bhubaneshwar, Jan. 29 -- The Orissa High Court, expressing deep concern over safe drinking water eluding a backward village in mineral-rich Keonjhar district, observed that "it is not only an obligation imposed upon the government to supply drinking water to its citizenry but is also a constitutional obligation.
A division bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice MS Raman, taking note of a PIL highlighting the dysfunctional potable water pipelines installed by the government six years back in Raipur village of Keonjhar district, stated that "it (providing drinking water to people) engulfed into a fundamental right envisaged under Article 21 of the Constitution.""The right to life imbibes within itself the right to have safe drinkin...