(1)No commercial, industrial, infrastructural or bulk user of ground water herein after in this section refer to as the said user, shall extract ground water in both the notified and non-notified areas without payment of fee to be charged annually on the basis of quantity of ground water drawl. The fee shall be deposited in such manner as may be prescribed.
(2) The fee referred to in sub section (1) shall be in addition to water cess charged under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act-1977.
(3) For the purpose of measuring and recording the quantity of ground water extracted, every said user shall affix meters of such standards and at such places as may be prescribed and it shall be presumed that the quantity recorded by the meter has been extracted by the said user, until the contrary is proved. An annual ground water audit shall be conducted to check the actual extracted water against quantity of ground water allowed/authorized for extraction.