The Supreme Court on Thursday foreclosed Punjab government’s attempts to question past decisions directing the State to construct the Sutlej-Yamuna-link (SYl) canal but left it open to decide the issues that stand in the way of the State to implement Court’s order.
With Punjab and Haryana having inked an agreement way back in 1981 for sharing of Ravi-Beas water, both States had agreed to construct the canal in order to make good the agreement on water sharing. But with Punjab passing a law in 2004 unilaterally withdrawing from the agreement, the validity of such a law was called in question by way of a Presidential Reference, a decision on which came on November 11, 2016 when a five-judge Constitution bench of Supreme Court held the law to be unconstitutional.
Haryana relied on this decision to force Punjab to honour the 1981 agreement. However, Punjab in reply said that the SC decision was not binding on it, more so because the issue needed to be settled either by way of a suit between both States or by constitution of a water disputes tribunal but certainly not in a Presidential Reference proceeding.
Responding to Punjab’s argument, a bench of Justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy said, “The decree which has been passed has to be executed. We will not go into the facts and legal issues dealt with by us on past two occasions. But we will hear you on the aspects having bearing on the execution of our order.”
The Bench is expected to hear the matter next on March 28 as arguments remained inconclusive.