The Delhi High Court has directed the central government to decide whether the drinking water and waste water management sectors can be covered under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). Justice Prateek Jalan asked the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, to take a decision on representations made by two entities – Water Alliance India and Nangloi Water Services Pvt Ltd – and inform its decision within three weeks. ECLGS was introduced under the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat package to address the credit crunch and reduce the cost of funds for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and other business enterprises to tide over the COVID-19 crisis. be able to deal with.
Water Alliance India and Nangloi Water Services had moved the High Court claiming that the water sector, which is part of MSMEs, would be deprived of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19 and Article 14 of the Constitution from availing benefits under ECLGS. is infringement. While Water Alliance India claims to be an organized conglomerate of MSMEs involved in diverse sectors in the water sector, Nangloi Jal Sewa oversees the improvement and improvement of the existing water supply system on behalf of the Delhi Jal Board.
The counsel for the central government told the high court that the representations made by both the entities would be disposed of within four weeks. Both the entities urged the court to reduce the time limit within which the representation is to be decided by the Center as the ECLGS expires on September 30 and no other relief has been sought at this stage. “The DFS is directed to dispose of the representation and thereafter communicate its decision to the petitioners within three weeks,” the judge said in the July 29 order.
In their petition filed through advocate Arjun Syal, the two petitioners had claimed that MSMEs and other small businesses involved in drinking water and waste water management sectors have been excluded from the scheme without any rationale, while water is an essential commodity. and the drinking water and waste water management sectors are of public utility. The petition states that in the absence of ECLGS, the drinking water and waste water management sectors will be forced to cease operations, which will adversely affect its employees as well as the public.
The ECLGS was revised, and its scope expanded repeatedly to include areas that were stressed due to the ever-changing impact of COVID-19, and second, the KV Kamath committee report reported only 26 An illustrative and non-exhaustive list of The petition states that the area for availing ECLGS. Moreover, since the construction sector, in which drinking water and waste water management is a major component, has already been given benefits under ECLGS, the latter may also be given the same benefits, it submitted.
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