The Supreme Court has dismissed a review petition filed by the Amarinder Singh government on the SYL Canal issue, and upheld its June 4 order that directed the Centre to construct the canal’s Punjab portion.A Bench, comprising Justice Ruma Pal and Justice P V Reddy, rejected Punjab’s plea last week when it was put up in their chambers. On June 4, the apex court had directed the Centre to identify within a month an agency to take up work on the canal and asked Punjab to hand over the area demarcated for construction within two weeks. Following the order, the State Assembly passed the Termination of Agreements Act, which annulled all water-sharing agreements with neighbouring states. The law was passed within the four-week deadline for handing over construction to a Central agency. Justice Ruma Pal is also part of the five-judge Constitution bench, which issued notices to the Centre and six state governments on August 2, on the Presidential Reference against the Punjab Act. The various governments were then directed to file submissions on facts and the law within six weeks. Punjab’s review petition had urged the apex court to reverse its judgement on the ground that it had made ‘‘errors apparent on the face of the record.’’ The court, however, ‘‘found no merit in it’’
