Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
TALKS WILL NOT RESOLVE RIVER WATER ROW WITH PUNJAB, PASS NEW ORDERS: HRY TO SC
NEW DELHI: With the stalemate over the contentious Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue continuing, the Haryana government on Thursday told the Supreme Court that talks cannot resolve the dispute, and pressed for the execution of court orders that required Punjab to complete the remaining portion of the canal.
As a bench led by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul took up the matter, the Haryana government submitted that the only way forward seems to be issuance of appropriate directives from the top court to ascertain a raft of judicial orders starting 2002 can be given effect to.
“After this court’s suggestion in September last year, there have been several meetings. The last meeting took place in January this year. Unfortunately, there have not been any progress. No holistic or plausible solution is in sight through this process,” senior counsel Shyam Divan, appearing for the Haryana government, submitted before the bench, which also included justices AS Oka and BV Nagarathna.
Divan added that there have been at least nine meetings since 2017. “The matter has been repeatedly adjourned since 2017 to enable us talk. But we believe, the time has come for this court to consider issuing further orders for the execution of the decree,” he said. Divan urged the court to consider hearing the matter on the judicial side instead of pushing for reconciliation.
While Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann said his state does not have “even a single drop of water” to share, his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar said the full construction of the canal and getting water through it was a matter of “right” for his state.