The Hindu : Front Page : Presidential Reference filed in Supreme Court

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Friday, Jul 23, 2004

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Presidential Reference filed in Supreme Court

By Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI, JULY 22. The Central Government today filed a Presidential Reference under Article 143 in the Supreme Court in the matter of construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal, seeking the court's opinion on the Punjab Government's enactment of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004.

The Act terminates all inter-State treaties/tribunal awards which are yet to be given effect.

In his four-point reference, the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, seeks to know whether the Act is constitutionally valid and really discharges the State Government from the water agreements. It affects the agreement on sharing of the waters of the — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — among Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. The matter is likely to be referred to a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.

Pressure on Government

A decision to move the Supreme Court was taken at an informal meeting here today of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

The Government is under pressure to take action with all the State Governments concerned threatening legal action. Besides, the matter was raised in Parliament two days ago where the Prime Minister gave an assurance that action would be taken within two to three days.

The Centre filed an application in the Supreme Court on July 16 showing compliance with its order of June 4 for setting up a central agency to complete the canal in Punjab and seeking directions in view of the enactment of the Punjab Act.

The SYL Canal runs for 121 km in Punjab and 90 km in Haryana and is supposed to carry a major share of Haryana's average share of the Ravi-Beas waters under an agreement between the States concerned in 1981.

The construction of the canal in Haryana is complete. Punjab undertook in 1982 to complete the construction of its portion of the canal but abandoned it in 1991.

Haryana moved the Supreme Court which on June 4 ordered the Centre to ensure the completion of the canal and provide security to the staff.

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