A Division Bench of Justice Mr Aniruddha Bose and Justice Mr Sanjib Banerjee of Calcutta High Court today directed the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) to inquire into the possibility of any construction work harming a 2,000-bigha waterbody in Howrah and file a report by 30 October. The matter will come up for hearing again on 6 November. Meanwhile, any step in the matter shall be subject to the final decision of the court. The 26 respondents of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) were restrained from illegally filling up any portion of the water body spread over the moujas of Chamrail, Bygachi, Jagdishpur and Jaipur bil. If any land area measures at least five cottahs or more and retains water for at least six months in a year, then it will be coming under the purview of the West Bengal Inland Fisheries Act and cannot be filled up, Ms Chaitali Bhattacharya, a representative of the Jalabhumi Bachao Committee, submitted. Even the embankment of the waterbody is coming under the Act and thus cannot be filled up. The area under question comprises holdings of individuals and the Railways. So there is no question of any land being acquired by the state government. In all, 275 decimel of land in this area is occupied by fishing bheries with trade licences. The committee is yet to get any reply from the West Bengal State Industrial Development Corporation (WBSIDC) and District Land Reforms Officer (DLRO) as to whether any project is coming up in the area occupied by the waterbody. Yet a considerable portion of the Harar canal, which flows through this area, has been filled up. But it is not known which government department gave permission for such an act. It is a regular waterbody, the state government counsel submitted. It is being filled up but it is a legalised process.;SNS