The Centre on Thursday opted to take a neutral position in an inter-State tug-of-war between poll-bound Punjab and neighbouring Haryana over the former's efforts to return to farmers vast tracts of land acquired for the construction of the contentious Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.
In a hearing of the Presidential Reference on the validity of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act of 2004 before a Constitution Bench led by Justice A.R. Dave, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, for the Centre, simply said: “We are neutral. We cannot take a stand.”
The Centre refused to takes sides despite submissions from the senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan for the Punjab government, that it has to firm up and take a stand on the issue rather than leave it to the States. Mr. Dhavan said the issue was not just about water-sharing but concerned policy.
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On March 14, the Centre had said in the hearing on Presidential Reference that “the Centre will not take any side”. On the same day, Punjab Assembly had passed The Punjab Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal (Rehabilitation and Re-vesting of Proprietary Rights) Bill, 2016 which provided for the return of over 5,000 acres of land acquired from farmers for the canal.
However, the court had on March 17 ordered status quo and said it would not let the State government legislate and reduce the court into a “silent spectator”.
The court had further appointed the Union Home Secretary, Punjab's Chief Secretary and Director General of Police as joint receivers to ensure no alterations were made in the canal structure and related properties.
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