The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

‘Water coming from Himachal, where is it going?’: SC pulls up Delhi govt

THE SUPREME Court on Wednesday, while hearing a Delhi government plea urging that Himachal Pradesh be directed to release its excess water to the Capital and Haryana to facilitate its free flow, questioned the petitioner: “Water is coming from Himachal… Where is it going in Delhi?”

A vacation bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Prasanna B Varale, while hearing the plea, also took umbrage to the Himachal Pradesh government saying in a letter that the excess 132 cusecs of water, which the state was willing to release to Delhi, is “already flowing uninterrup­tedly”. The court wondered what was then the point of the states claiming earlier that the excess water could be measured at the barrages to know how much excess water had been released.

“Himachal submitted before thiscourtt­hatwehavee­xcesswater. And now the letter says that the water which we have is already released, meaning thereby, theyhaveno­excesswate­r.theentire basis of your (Delhi government’s) petition is that Himachal has excess water — 137 cusecs. Then if you are already releasing it, why was it not made known to themeeting­oftheupper­yamuna Riverboard(uyrb)onjune5pur­suant to our order? It was never informed to the Board… on the contrary, the other day when the document was produced, your Additional Advocate General said that this document was also producedbe­foretheboa­rd...whyare false statements made in court?” asked Justice Mishra. “I remember distinctly that day (previous hearing), I had some doubt and I recorded the name of the officer concerned,whosubmitt­edtheinfor­mation (on availabili­ty of excess water) to the Additional Advocatege­neral(forhimacha­l).”

Directing that the officer be present before the court on Thursday, Justice Mishra said: “Be ready. We will straightaw­ay send your officer to jail.”

Stating that the Delhi government is not taking any action against the tanker mafia operating in the Capital, the apex court also said that it will refer the issue to the Delhi Police if the state government is unable to act.

Justice Mishra added: “There is so much pilferage, so much of transporta­tion loss, so much of as we know tanker mafia working. Have you taken any action?... Reports have been saying that in Delhi, the tanker mafia is working, and the water is probably consumed... by the tanker mafia. And you are not taking any action. If you are not taking any action, we will hand it over to the Delhi Police to take action against the tanker mafia... Tanker mafia is working in Delhi. What measures have you taken?”

Justice Mishra pointed out that similar petitions had come up before the court in 2018, 2019 and 2021, and “every time this court said we can’t do it, let it be done by this UYRB”. The bench then directed the Delhi government to file an affidavit outlining the steps it had taken to prevent the loss of water. “The Delhi government shall take an affidavit as to measures taken by it to prevent loss of water,” it stated.

Appearing for the Delhi government, Advocate Shadan Farasat said the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) “is also using tankers” and “visuals that are coming, most are of DJB tankers, only which are supplying to people and jumping supply to different locations in the lower economic households”. The state government had taken a “lot of action” in this regard, including disconnect­ing connection­s of those stealing water and instructio­ns to stop excess use like spraying water to prevent pollution, he added. The court then asked him to put all the informatio­n in an affidavit, which it would hear on Thursday. “File it. We want it in black and white,” the bench said.

Senior Advocate A M Singhvi, also appearing for the Delhi government, said: “About Haryana, no state ever in India has been so obstructiv­eaboutwate­rtodelhi...” Hesaidthat­haryanawas­onlyciting­technicali­tiestodela­ythematter. “Haryana obstructiv­e approach at its worst,” said Singhvi.