Himachal Pradesh groundwater (regulation and control of development and management) act, 2005

According to Himachal Pradesh groundwater (regulation and control of development and management) act, 2005  the state government shall, by notification in the official Gazette, establish an Authority to be known as “The Himachal Pradesh Ground Water Authority”.

The Authority shall function under the overall control and supervision of the State Government. The Authority can advise the State Government to declare any such area to be notified area for the purposes of this Act if it is necessary or expedient in the public interest to control and or regulate the extraction of groundwater in any form in any area. The Act states that the –

• The Authority shall take steps to ensure that exploitation of groundwater resources does not exceed the natural replenishment to the aquifers and wherever, there is mismatch, steps shall be taken to ensure augmentation of groundwater resources in addition to regulatory measures. 
• The Authority shall maintain and update the database on ground water resources of the State and grant of permit to extract and use groundwater. 
• As of registration of existing users of ground water, every rig owner operating in the State shall register his/her machinery with the Authority in such manner and on payment of such fee as may be prescribed and shall follow the instructions issued by the Authority.  
• Every user of ground water in a notified area shall pay to the State Government a royalty for extraction of ground water at such rates and in such manner as may be prescribed: Provided that a user of ground water who irrigates less than one hectare of land, whether owned or leased or both, shall be exempted from payment of royalty under this section. The State Government may, assign such proportion of the royalty, as may be prescribed for development of groundwater resources. 
• The Authority may, in order to improve the ground water situation, identify the areas of ground water recharge and issue guidelines for adoption of rain water harvesting for ground water recharge in such areas.   

Read the act

Himachal Pradesh groundwater (regulation and control of development and management) rules, 2006

This document by the Himachal Pradesh Irrigation and Public Health Department is divided into the following sections:

• Chapter 1: Short title and commencement
• Chapter 2: Conduct of business, constitution of fund, maintainence and audit of accounts of the authority
• Chapter 3: General rules concerning the proceedings of the authority
• Chapter 4: Application for grant of permit for extraction of groundwater
• Chapter 5: Registration of existing users of groundwater sources
• Chapter 6: Registration of drilling machinery
• Chapter 7: Investigations, inquiry, survey, collection of information
• Chapter 8: Rainwater harvesting, conservation, groundwater recharge and waste water management
• Chapter 9: Royalty for extraction and use of groundwater
• Chapter 10: Fees and fines
• Chapter 11: Appeals

Read the rules