The Supreme Court has directed the Delhi government to file an affidavit on the measures taken by it to prevent loss of water. The Court also asked what action the government has taken against the "tanker mafia" working in Delhi and warned the government that it will ask Delhi Police to intervene.

The Court was hearing a petition filed 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. Notably, on the last date of hearing, when the Bench was informed that defects had not been removed in the Petition, it had then remarked, "Raising all kinds of urgency and sitting quite leisurely."

The Vacation Bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale said, "Government of NCT of Delhi shall file affidavit as to measures taken by Delhi government to prevent loss of water. Other parties may also file additional affidavit if they so desire. The affidavits may be filed today or tomorrow, before the hearing."

At the outset, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for the Delhi Government submitted, "Let me make it clear, simple and pointed, because we are here for a solution for about 15-20 days. The rain gods appear to be kind enough to us after 20 days. So let me begin, it's a bit technical. Kindly ask the court master to get the Himachal affidavit filed earlier and two status reports filed by me dated 11.06.2024 and 09.06.2024. These three documents and I will be very pointed. This is slightly technical and will have a solution subject to my Lord's kind discretion."

Justice Mishra said, "We have both the documents".

"First I will deal with the substance and then the measurement (of water) issues," Singhvi submitted.

Justice Mishra noted that the affidavit filed by the State of Himachal Pradesh is signed by an Engineer and not by any high-level officials and remarked, "If anything goes wrong, how can we deal with the situation? If some statement is wrong, you want the person concerned to be held by this Court, and where are these Secretaries? Why are they not filing these affidavits?"

To this, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan appearing for the State of Haryana contended, "They must file it, I agree. I also was very surprised."

The Bench then asked the Advocate General (AG) Anup Kumar Rattan appearing for the State of Himachal Pradesh, "Yes, Mr. Kumar. Himachal submitted before this Court that we have excess water, now the letter which we have says that the water is already released, meaning thereby that they don't have any excess water and the entire basis of your (Delhi government's) petition is that Himachal has excess water, 137 cusecs."

Justice Mishra asked if Himachal Pradesh is already releasing the water why was it not informed to the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB). "Why false statement are made in Court and I remember distinctly, that I had recorded the name of the person who had submitted the report to the Additional Advocate General. When water is coming from Himachal Pradesh, where is the water going? There is so much of transportation loss, tanker mafia is working," he said.

"Have you(Delhi government) taken any action against any of these measures suggested? People say, in Delhi, tanker mafia is working and the water is probably consumed and engulfed by the tanker mafia and you are not taking any action. If you are not taking any action, then we will hand it over to the Delhi police to take action against the tanker mafias," Justice Mishra said.

"People are suffering, we are seeing visuals on every news channel. Tanker mafia working in Delhi. What measures have you taken? because in affidavits we have seen these matter came up in 2018, 2019, 2021, everytime this court says we can't do it, let it be done by the UYRB. What measures have you taken to control loss of water if water scarcity is a recurring problem in summers? Please show us. File an affidavit, what measure you have taken 2023 May-June to 2024 April," the Bench asked.

Justice Mishra asked whether water is being supplied through tankers.

To this, Advocate on Record (AoR) Shadan Farasat, appearing for the Delhi government, submitted that Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is also supplying through tankers. "The visuals that are coming, most of them are DJB tankers only, supplying to people and people take out water differently, especially in the lower economic houses," Farasat added.

The Counsel said they have taken action, including massive disconnection of water supplies, so that excess water wastage is stopped. "Also, we will be more than happy if police takes action against these persons. I am saying this on instructions," he submitted.

Consequently, the Court asked the Delhi government to file a report stating the action taken to curb the loss of water. The matter has been scheduled for further hearing on Thursday (June 13).

Pertinently, on June 10, the Bench lashed out at the Counsel of the Delhi government for not curing defects in the Writ Petition filed by Delhi government.

On June 6, taking note of the minutes of the meeting of June 5 held by the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB), the Court had 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 had further directed the State of Haryana to facilitate the process. "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 had said.

Earlier, 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 emergent 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]

Justice Prashant Kumar MishraJustice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale

Sukriti Mishra