Patna, Sept. 19: The high court today began hearing a PIL seeking direction to authorities concerned to stop alleged misuse of Rihand reservoir water, denying Bihar its legitimate share of water, depriving irrigation facility in its several districts.

A division bench comprising Justice S.K. Katriar and Justice A. Amanullah, which began hearing after almost 17 years, was hearing a PIL filed by former legislator Saryu Rai seeking direction to restrain National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the Uttar Pradesh government from illegally withdrawing water from the Rihand reservoir to generate around 23,000MW of electricity.

Rai in the PIL had alleged that NTPC was pilfering water from Rihand sub-basin for its projects, creating acute irrigation and drinking water problems in Buxar, Bhojpur, Rohtas, Patna, Kaimur and Jehanabad districts in the Sone river belt.

Rihand dam is located at Pipri in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. It is built on the Rihand river, a tributary of Sone.

NTPC’s alleged water pilferage is in gross violation of the Bansagar Agreement, 1973, and also against the guidelines laid down in the National Water Policy in 1987 through which priority was accorded to drinking water and irrigation facilities for sharing the water from Rihand sub-basin.

Property confiscation

The Patna High Court today reserved its judgment on a petition challenging the order to confiscate the property of Girish Kumar, a former treasury assistant of Patna collectorate, who amassed assets to his known sources of income.

Girish had challenged the confiscation order passed by the lower court on June 23 in the high court. A special vigilance court ordered the confiscation of Girish properties, worth Rs 47.66 lakh, under the Bihar Special Court Act 2009.

Biada scam

The high court today transferred to another bench the hearing of a PIL filed by Dinu Kumar seeking CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the allotment of Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) plots.

A division bench comprising Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Shivaji Pandey declined to hear the matter and transferred the PIL to another bench saying that another bench would hear the case.