Haryana urges apex court to speed up hearing on SYL

HARYANA’S DEMAND FOR EARLY HEARING WAS OBJECTED TO BY PUNJAB COUNSEL, SAYING APPOINTMENT OF LAW OFFICERS WILL TAKE TWO WEEKS

NEW DELHI :The Haryana government requested the Supreme Court on Monday to hear the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue at the earliest, saying the state was suffering due to delay in final disposal of the case.

Senior advocates Jagdeep Dhankhar, Shyam Divan and additional advocate general Anish Gupta mentioned the matter before a bench headed by justice PC Ghose, complaining the matter was listed for a hearing on March 28 and 29. However, the matter was not heard.

Haryana’s demand for early hearing was objected to by Punjab. Senior counsel RS Suri said the Captain Amarinder Singh government needed two weeks to appoint its law officers.

Justice Ghose told Haryana’s counsel that he will consider posting the matter for an early hearing since a special bench will have to be constituted for the same. On the last hearing, Punjab had maintained that it was a “very sensitive state” and asserted it was not possible to execute the top court’s 2002 decree on SYL canal for there was a substantial decrease in the availability of water for various reasons.

Punjab’s submission came despite its stand that it didn’t intend to revisit the facts and issues already adjudicated upon. “To my mind, the decree which has been passed has to be executed. A decree passed by the Supreme Court should not be treated like a paper decree,” Justice Ghose had said on the last hearing.

The 2004 Act passed by the Punjab assembly, terminating the SYL canal water-sharing agreement with neighbouring states, took away the very basis of the 2002 decree favouring Haryana, Suri had submitted.