Other States - Punjab   

SYL canal row: hearing of Presidential Reference tomorrow

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, JULY 31. A five-Judge Constitution Bench, headed by the Chief Justice, R.C. Lahoti, will hear on Monday the Presidential Reference on the controversial legislation enacted by the Punjab Government annulling the agreements entered among Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan on sharing the waters of the Ravi and the Beas.

Besides the Chief Justice, the other Judges in the Bench are: Justice N. Santosh Hegde, Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice Ruma Pal and Justice S.N. Variava.

The Reference under Article 143 of the Constitution seeks whether the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act, 2004 and the provisions thereof are in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of India;

Whether the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, and the provisions thereof are in accordance with the provisions of Section 14 of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956, Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 and the Notification dated March 24, 1976 issued thereunder;

Whether the State of Punjab has validly terminated the agreement dated December 31, 1981 and all other agreements relating to the Ravi-Beas waters and is discharged from its obligation under the said agreement(s); and

Whether in view of the provisions of the Act, the State of Punjab is discharged from its obligations flowing from the Judgment and Decree dated January 15, 2002 and the Judgment and Order dated June 4 of the Supreme Court.

Haryana had approached the Supreme Court, seeking its intervention as the Punjab Government was delaying the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal. On June 4, the court had asked the Centre to take over the construction of the Punjab portion of the canal as the State Government showed reluctance to complete the work. The Centre constituted a special task force to complete the work in accordance with the judgment.

But following Punjab's unilateral decision on July 12 to scrap its river water sharing agreements with the neighbouring States, the Centre filed an application on July 15 in the Supreme Court for fresh directions on the construction of the SYL canal.

Even before the application was listed for hearing, the Centre came up with the Presidential Reference.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Entertainment |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• SYL canal row: hearing of Presidential Reference tomorrow
• `Nothing against Kohli in passport case'

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu