A vacation bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday refused to hear a public interest petition filed by TDP MLA A Revanth Reddy, who questioned the wisdom of the state in supplying huge quantities of water to liquor distilleries instead of supplying water to thousands of parched villages in the state.

“This is a vacation bench meant for hearing urgent cases and public interest petitions are separate subjects which are not with us,” the bench of Justice A Rajasheker Reddy and Justice A Shankar Narayana stated.

The TDP MLA filed the PIL saying that 1,512 million litres of water are being allotted to beverage factories and distilleries producing beer and cool drinks. “Authorities have been supplying this water to private companies at a time when as many as 14,818 villages in the state are reeling under drought. In case of Hyderabad, which has a demand for 660 million gallons per day (MGD), the present supply stands at 350 MGD per day and in districts like Karimnagar and Mahbubnagar, the situation is grim as water is being supplied just once a week,” he said.

The bench permitted the counsel to move this as an urgent motion when it came up for hearing. However, the registry raised objections on hearing a PIL in vacation court and the bench said that the case will be listed after the vacation.