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More than one billion people in the world lack the access to safe drinking water and around three billion people in developing world live in poor sanitation condition. The provision of drinking water and sanitation are taken for granted by the people who can afford to avail these services. The income inequality also creates the inequality in the possession of these basic provisions. The shortage of water resources has aggravated the worseness in the provision of these services. Traditionally state has been responsible for service delivery in these sectors. However, in the recent past there have been instances which have cited the discrepancies in the state mechanism in service delivery. The failure of institutional mechanism to grant this right to the people calls for new strategies to bring efficiency in the system. One of the important factors in bringing efficiency can be bringing transparency in the system. This would involve citizens’ participation in the process. This paper argues that access to drinking water and sanitation is a basic human right mentioned implicitly and explicitly in many international documents. There is a gradual transition from supply driven approach to demand driven approach. In this context, right based approach becomes very important to access to these basic provisions. The right based approach in post-independent India in context to water and sanitation issues started with Public Interest Litigation Cases where Indian Judiciary interpreted right to water under Article 21. To bring accountability in the system right to information came into existence. This right has serve as an important procedural right to check the efficiency of the mechanism of the state institutions and thus helping in the faster execution of service delivery in water and sanitation sector.
Key words: Accountability, Human Right, International Convention, PIL, RTI
