Concerned over drying up of Sukhna lake, says CJI
“Aur kitna sukhaoge Sukhna lake ko (How much more will you allow Sukhna lake to dry up),” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant remarked on Wednesday while expressing concern over the drying up of Chandigarh’s iconic lake as a result of collusion between builder mafias and bureaucrats.
A bench of the CJI and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was hearing interim applications filed in the pending 1995 PIL titled ‘In Re: TN Godavarman Thirumulpad’.
“Aur kitna sukhaoge Sukhna lake ko? There are illegal constructions in collusion and connivance with bureaucrats, backed by political entities in Punjab, resulting in the complete destruction of the lake. All builder mafias are operating there,” CJI Kant observed orally as a lawyer mentioned a plea related to the lake. The top court had earlier wondered why all the matters concerning forests and lakes are coming to the apex court, bypassing the High Courts, that too in the form of interim applications in a pending PIL of 1995.
Why are all forest matters coming to this court, a bench comprising Chief Justice Kant and Justice Bagchi wondered at the outset. Referring to an application related to the Sukhna lake case, the CJI had said that, apparently, it seemed a friendly match was going on at the behest of some private developers and others.
The bench had asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, and senior lawyer K Parmeswar, who has been assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the forest matter, to apprise it of local issues which can be dealt with by the High Courts themselves.
Litigation around Chandigarh’s Sukhna lake primarily involves the High Court’s efforts to protect its catchment area from encroachment, ordering demolition of structures in the protected zone in 2020.
