Apex Court Directs Himachal Pradesh To Release 137 Cusecs Of Water On June 7 To Tackle Delhi's Water Scarcity Problem; Asks Haryana To Facilitate Process
The Supreme Court has directed the State of Himachal Pradesh to supply 137 cusecs of water through Haryana on June 7 to curb the problem of water scarcity in the national capital. The Court further directed the State of Haryana to facilitate the process.
The Court was hearing a plea by the Delhi government seeking a direction to Haryana to release the surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh to the national capital to mitigate its ongoing water crisis.
While noting that the Himachal Pradesh government has no objection and is willing to release the surplus water available with it, the Vacation Bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice KV Viswanathan ordered, "Delhi needs 150 cusecs of water to beat the heatwave condition...137 cusecs water is available with Himachal Pradesh. Since it has no objection, we direct Himachal Pradesh to release 137 cusecs from the upper stream so that it reaches from Hathni Kundh to Wazirabad...the State of Haryana shall facilitate the flow of water so that it reaches Delhi and is made available for the citizens of Delhi for drinking."
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for the Delhi government and, at the outset, informed the Court, "Meeting was held, we requested with folded hands. Himachal had no objection; Haryana objected. The board said you write to Haryana; we write to Haryana, we have not received any reply. That's the summary. We only want 150 cusecs".
Senior Advocate Vikramjeet Banerjee appeared for the Union and Additional Advocate General (AAG) Vaibhav Srivastav appeared for the State of Himachal Pradesh.
Taking note of the minutes of the meeting of June 5 held by the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB), the Court directed, "The State of Haryana is directed to release the water tomorrow. A status report be submitted on Monday (June 10) with compliance report." The Vacation Bench also clarified that there shall be no wastage of water in Delhi. "We are conscious of the fact that there is water scarcity in Delhi, we direct that there shall be no wastage of water," it said.
Accordingly, the Court scheduled the matter for further hearing on June 10.
On the last hearing, the Court had noted the agreement among the Counsels representing the Centre, Delhi, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh regarding the urgency of the situation. All parties acknowledged the need for a collaborative, non-adversarial approach to resolve the water scarcity issue faced by Delhi's citizens. The Vacation Bench had directed an emergent meeting of the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) to be held on June 5 so that the problem of water scarcity in the national capital is properly addressed.
"During the course of hearing, all the parties have agreed that there should be a non-adversial approach to the scarcity of water face be the citizens of Delhi. All the parties (SG Mehta, AAG of State of HP, AAG of Haryana...) agreed that there shall be an immergent meeting of "Upper Yamuna River Board" on June June 2024, to address the issues agitated in the Suit so the problem of scarcity of water for the citizens of Delhi shall be properly addressed," the Bench had said.
"Post the matter for June 6, along with the minutes of the meeting of the board and the suggested steps to be taken by the stakeholders to solve the problem," the Bench had ordered.
Cause Title: Government of NCT of Delhi v. State of Haryana [Diary No. 25504 / 2024]