The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the reins to the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) to consider and resolve the drinking water crisis in Delhi, saying it does not have the expertise to decide the “complex and sensitive issue” which involves the sharing of Yamuna water among States which are signatories of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) dating back 20 years.
A Vacation Bench headed by Justice P.K. Mishra said it did not want to either violate or tinker with the MoU settled among the States by even passing an interim order.
Also Read | SC blames Delhi’s water scarcity on tanker mafia, spillage
“The issue should be left to be considered by the Upper Yamuna River Board, a body constituted with the agreement of parties in the MoU of May 12, 1994,” the Vacation Bench observed in its order.
The court said the UYRB had already, in a meeting held on June 5, advised Delhi to apply to the Haryana government to supply 150 cusecs of water on “humanitarian grounds”.
The court said Delhi ought to follow the advice, if not already done, by 5 p.m. on June 13. The Bench directed the UYRB to hold a meeting on June 14 and take a decision on the issue of giving Delhi water “at the earliest”.
Haryana’s stand
However, Haryana, represented by senior advocate Shyam Divan, made it clear in court that it did not have excess or surplus water. The State itself was going through heat wave conditions similar to Delhi.
Meanwhile, the hearing saw the court pull up the Himachal Pradesh government for making an erroneous statement in a June 6 hearing that it had surplus water up to 137 cusecs and could release it from upstream through the Hathni Kund Barrage to enter Delhi via Wazirabad Barrage. The court had on that day ordered Himachal to release the surplus water and Haryana to give it “right of passage” through its territory into Delhi.
However, when Haryana enquired Himachal Pradesh about the release of the 137 cusecs of water, the court found that the latter State had merely replied that the water was already flowing in the Yamuna.
“When Haryana requested Himachal Pradesh to inform them about the release of additional 137 cusecs of water, the Jal Shakti Vibhag of Himachal Pradesh wrote back that the 137 cusecs is already flowing uninterruptedly from the territory of Himachal Pradesh to Tajewala [Hathni Kund Barrage],” the order noted.
Justice Mishra said the court would have ideally kept the case pending and considered contempt action against Himachal Pradesh for making the “incorrect statement” that it had 137 cusecs of surplus water to share with Delhi.
“You [Himachal Pradesh] cannot make such casual statements in such a sensitive case,” said the court and permitted the State to withdraw the wrong statement of June 6 about the availability of the surplus water.
Appearing for Delhi, senior advocate A.M. Singhvi urged immediate action to help the national capital tide over its water crisis for the next 15 to 20 days until the onset of monsoon by June 30. He said steps would be taken to save and augment the water supply. Mr. Singhvi submitted that the water level at Wazirabad was not maintained by Haryana to its optimum level.
Mr. Divan countered that water level at Wazirabad was maintained all throughout vis-a-vis release of 1,050 cusecs of water from Munak Head.
He said maintaining water level at Wazirabad was not relevant after creation of three additional water treatment plants at Bawana, Dwarka and Okhla.
