The Hindu : New Delhi News : Supreme Court to hear Punjab plea on Aug. 14

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Friday, Jul 27, 2007
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Supreme Court to hear Punjab plea on Aug. 14

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear on August 14 an application filed by the State of Punjab seeking to restrain Haryana from proceeding with construction of the Bansi Branch-Butana Branch Multipurpose Link Channel for diverting the water to irrigate its areas lying in the Yamuna basin.

A three-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice Dalveer Bhandari fixed the date of hearing on a mention made by Rajeev Dhavan, senior counsel for Punjab, for early listing of the application which was filed in a suit filed by Punjab.

Punjab said the project was undertaken by Haryana by puncturing the Bhakra Main Line Canal near the village of Ajimgarh in Kaithal district. This embankment would result in floods and consequential damage and ingress into Punjab. The channel would act as a barrier to free flow of water resulting in backwater formation and submergence of land in Punjab and would affect supplies in the downstream reaches of Punjab, which were crystallised into rights under the Bhakra Nangal Agreement of 1959.

“Apart from violating the territorial rights,” it said, “the construction of the embankment along the link channel abutting the territory of Punjab for 20 km in the direction of West to East would obstruct free flow of surface water in the direction of North to South resulting in backwater formation and flooding in the territory of Punjab.”

Further, it pleaded, the construction of the embankment would result in displacement of over one lakh people living in 70 villages; submergence of 20,756 acres of lands spread over 32 villages; disruption of communication; disruption of the existing irrigation system; cause other damages including the rehabilitation measures and interfere with the health and safety of people.

Punjab pointed out that Haryana had not obtained the mandatory clearance from the Government for construction of the project and it suffered from technical infirmities. Any submergence of the territory within Punjab without its consent was illegal.

Further, no prior concurrence of Rajasthan was obtained. No clearance under the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act had been taken by Haryana, it said.

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