6 min readChandigarhOct 5, 2023 08:44 AM IST
First published on: Oct 5, 2023 at 02:09 AM IST
Noting that Haryana had already constructed its portion of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, the Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Punjab government for not completing construction of its part of the canal and asked the Centre to survey the land allocated for the project in Punjab so as to assess the work progress.
A bench presided by Justice S K Kaul recalled that it had earlier stayed Punjab’s attempt to release the land to farmers and appointed a receiver. The bench, also comprising Justices C T Ravikumar and Sudhanshu Dhulia, told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati who appeared for the Centre that “we would like the Union of India to survey the portion of the land allocated for the project in Punjab to ensure that the land is protected…” and to know “how much has been made and what has been made”.
The court said “we are concerned with the decree for the construction of the SYL canal in the Punjab portion, as Haryana has already constructed” and asked the Punjab government to extend full cooperation to the survey.
The bench was referring to the 2002 decree in Haryana’s favour on a suit filed by the state against Punjab wherein the SC had directed construction of the canal. The court noted that the “decree stands” and added “this kind of a matter possibly has political ramifications… something will have to be done…”
Meanwhile, while Punjab functionaries are elated that the apex court had at least talked about surveying the land and the water, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, while expressing his satisfaction said that he is thankful to the court for these orders and emphasised that the construction of SYL is essential for Haryana.
While Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has not yet commented on the issue, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said that Punjab would not share a single drop of water. An expert, on anonymity, told The Indian Express, “We have always demanded a tribunal to asses water. Now, when the SC has asked for survey of land and availability of water in SYL, it is a positive step. We have been saying we do not have any water. As far as land is concerned, Punjab had denotified SYL land in 2016.”
The state had denotified 5,000 acres on which SYL was constructed in November 2016 during former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s rule. After the denotification, several farmers had even ploughed the canal, areas of which caused flooding in villages near Banur and Rajpura this monsoon. A functionary of the government said that if the SYL was to be constructed again, the entire process will have to be started from scratch. The farmers would have to be divested of the land. “If this is done, it would be a huge issue in the state, already grappling with many other factors, including threat of radicalism, especially in light of recent gulf between India and Canada over Khalistan.”
Another functionary, however, said that while the Punjab government had taken this plea that the land was returned to the farmers, it remains to be seen what stand does SC take. Reminiscing about the identification orders, the functionary said that state government had passed the quasi-judicial order, allowing for denotification of the SYL land in 2016. The SAD-BJP government had then decided to denotify over 5,300 acres of land acquired for SYL over less than four decades ago. Almost 4,900 acres were to be returned to the original land owners free of cost. The government had followed specific provisions in law that allow the government to denotify land acquired for a project if the same ceases to exist or is delayed indefinitely. However, while several farmers had ploughed the land, the SC had ordered a status quo.
Kang added that the water situation in Punjab is no longer the same as it was 50 years ago. Today Punjab itself is struggling with water issues. He said in the North Zone Council meeting, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had said that Punjab cannot give additional water to any state.
Kang, on behalf of the party, demanded that a tribunal be constituted to know the situation of water in SYL and Punjab. The tribunal should conduct an in-depth study on the matter as to whether Punjab is in a position to provide water to other states in the present circumstances or not.
He said that the land which was notified for SYL has now also been denotified. Now notifying it again will create many problems. So now it is not possible to make SYL because we neither have extra water nor the required land. We will put this matter before the court in a legal manner and will also raise it before the Centre, Kang said.
Kang also cornered Akali Dal and Badal family on the issue of SYL. He said that it was the Prakash Singh Badal government that first notified the land for SYL. He put the interests of Punjab at stake because of his personal relationship with former Haryana Chief Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal and took advantage of that relationship to acquire huge properties in Gurgaon and many other places in Haryana.
Khattar, however, demanded the Punjab government to ensure compliance with the SC orders. While underscoring the critical significance of the SYL canal for the state of Haryana, Khattar said construction of SYL is the rightful entitlement of people of Haryana. “On behalf of all the people of the state, I heartily thank the Supreme Court for today’s order and hope that the Punjab Government will immediately implement the court’s orders,” he said.
The CM also urged the Centre to complete the survey work of SYL so that Haryana gets its right which has been pending for years.
Khattar also said that at present Punjab is using about 1.9 MAF of Haryana’s share of water as it has not completed the construction work of the SYL Canal in its area. “If SYL is constructed then this water share that belongs to Haryana, about 10.08 lakh acres of state land will be irrigated. Besides this, the state water shortage will also be quenched and lakhs of farmers will benefit,” he said, adding that with the availability of this water, the groundwater level which is going down significantly in southern Haryana will also improve.
– With inputs from New Delhi
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Haryana, pointed out that there was an SC order for execution of the decree and things have to move forward. “The only thing that remains is construction. Punjab, of course, has to cooperate; that is what federalism is about,” he submitted.
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