The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the Delhi government for not rectifying defects in its plea seeking a direction to Haryana to release the surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh to the national capital to mitigate its water crisis.  Expressing displeasure, the court asked the Arvind Kejriwal government to not take the top court for granted and even warned that the petition would be dismissed if the issue is not addressed. A vacation bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Prasanna B Varale noted that affidavits are not being accepted in the registry due to the defect in the petition filed by the Delhi government.

"Why have you not cured the defect? We will dismiss the petition. On the last date also this was pointed out and you did not remove the defect. Don't take the court proceedings for granted, however important your case may be.

"Never take us for granted. Filings are not being accepted. You straightaway hand over a series of documents in court and then you say you are suffering a deficit of water and pass an order today itself. You are raising all grounds of urgency and sitting leisurely. Let everything come on record. We will take it the day after tomorrow," the bench said while adjourning the matter to June 12.

The top court said it wants to read the files before the matter is heard as there are so many things being reported in the newspaper.

"If we don't read the files at our residential office we will be impressed by whatever the newspapers are reporting. That is not good for any of the parties," the bench said.At the outset, senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Haryana, submitted the reply filed by the state government. The apex court asked Divan why did he file the reply now.

Divan replied that since the defects in the Delhi government's plea have not been rectified, pre-filing of the reply was not permitted by the registry.The top court then rebuked the Delhi government. The counsel for the Delhi government submitted that defects have been removed.

The acute shortage of drinking water has become an "existential problem" in Delhi, the top court had earlier observed and directed the Himachal Pradesh government to release 137 cusecs of surplus water to the national capital on Friday and Haryana to facilitate its flow.