Legal implications of Plachimada: a case study
The first part of the paper briefly describes the geography and the socio-economic background of Plachimada. The second part analyses the legal and institutional framework applicable to the case. This part also examines how the government approached the case, which has already been presented before the Kerala High Court. The third part is an analysis of the case law. The Kerala government enacted the Kerala Ground Water (Control and Regulation) Act in 2002 but the Act was notified only in 2003. By this time the matter had already come before the Kerala High Court and therefore, this Act has not been applied by the High Court and is not applicable to the case now pending before the Supreme Court of India. Hence, in anticipation of the future of the case, the fourth part examines the arguments presented before the Supreme Court. Since the Kerala Ground water (Control and Regulation) Act is the statutory framework to prevent and control the situations like Plachimada in the future, an analysis of the Act is also included in the fourth part.