SC can’t be bypassed on inter-State disputes: Haryana
The Haryana government has invoked judicial precedents in the Cauvery river water sharing dispute case involving Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka to submit in the Supreme Court that no State Assembly can pass a law to negate the apex court’s constitutional powers to adjudicate and decide inter-State disputes.
- This has been stated by Haryana during a hearing of the Presidential Reference on the validity of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act of 2004 — which has jeopardised the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal project.
- The Haryana government argues that a law passed by the State legislature to circumvent or render infructuous a Supreme Court verdict is a clear encroachment by the lawmakers into the judiciary’s terrain.
Background:
The Supreme Court, in March
2016, ordered status quo on the land meant for the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal
after Haryana alleged attempts by Punjab to alter its use by levelling it.
- This issue escalated when the Punjab assembly passed the Punjab Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal (Rehabilitation and Re-vesting of proprietary Rights) Bill, 2016 to de-notify the land acquired to build the canal in Punjab.
- Haryana argues the Bill, awaiting the Governor’s assent, would negate the Supreme Court’s 2004 decree calling for unhindered construction of the canal which will give Haryana its share of water.
Controversy surrounding the
Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal:
The creation of Haryana from
the old (undivided) Punjab in 1966 threw up the problem of giving Haryana its
share of river waters. Punjab was opposed to sharing waters of the Ravi and
Beas with Haryana, citing riparian principles, and arguing that it had no water
to spare.
- However, Centre, in 1976, issued a notification allocating to Haryana 3.5 million acre feet (MAF) out of undivided Punjab’s 7.2 MAF.
- To enable Haryana to use its share of the waters of the Sutlej and its tributary Beas, a canal linking the Sutlej with the Yamuna, cutting across the state, was planned. In April, 1982, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ceremonially dug the ground at Kapoori village in Patiala district for the construction of the 214-km Sutlej-Yamuna Link (or SYL) canal, 122 km of which was to be in Punjab, and 92 km in Haryana.
- A tripartite agreement was also negotiated between Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan in this regard.
- However, following the protests in Punjab, the Punjab Assembly passed The Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, terminating its water-sharing agreements, and thus jeopardising the construction of SYL in Punjab.
