3 Jun 2024 7:21 AM GMT
The Supreme Court today asked the Upper Yamuna River Board to call for an emergent meeting of all stakeholder-states on June 5 to resolve the water crisis being faced by the residents of Delhi and to submit a status report by June 6.
“There shall be an emergent meeting of Upper Yamuna River Board on June 5, 2024, to address the issues agitated in this petition and all other connected issues in right earnest so that problems of scarcity of water for the citizens of Delhi should be properly addressed. Post this matter on Thursday (June 6) along with the minutes of the meeting and the suggested steps.", the Court ordered.
The Vacation Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan was hearing a writ petition filed by the Delhi government seeking directions to the State of Haryana for the immediate release of water to the crisis-hit national capital.
It asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government, to facilitate the Board's meeting on June 5 so that the crisis can be resolved.
Briefly put, the plea was filed by the Delhi government stating that the capital was facing an acute shortage of water due to the severe heatwave conditions prevailing in north India.
Despite taking all possible administrative measures to ensure optimization, rationing, and targeted supply, it said, there was an emergent situation in the capital, as the demand for water was increasing exponentially but supply was limited. As such, there was a need for additional water supply from neighboring states.
One of the neighboring states (that is Himachal Pradesh) agreed to share its surplus water with Delhi, the plea stated. However, to avert the crisis, cooperation was required from State of Haryana, which shares borders with the capital unlike Himachal Pradesh and can assist by releasing water to Delhi, including that which is offered to be channeled by Himachal Pradesh.
Pointing out that Delhi is home to migrants from the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, Senior Advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi for the Delhi Government stressed on reciprocal obligations of Haryana and averred that the latter must come to Delhi's aid in resolving the water and sanitation crisis. He mentioned that a request had been made to the Haryana government, but the same had not been acceded yet. Further, he stated that the plea is not adversarial and that the government's goal is to mitigate the water crisis through a one-time use of additional water that Himachal Pradesh has agreed to share with Delhi.
On the other side, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta said that the Board can meet and arrange for additional water, but the Delhi govt must stop nearly 50% wastage of water supplied to the national capital.
“As per the figures placed before the Board, of every 100 litres of water that Delhi gets, only 48.65 litres reach the people in the Capital. 52.35% of it is lost due to leakage, tanker mafia and theft by industrial units. The government will have to tighten it.”, SG Mehta said.
“What he (Mehta) is saying is also right. There should not be any wastage of water. We will look into this also at a subsequent stage.”, the court said.
The parties then made a joint statement, which was recorded, stating that a meeting of the UYRB would be held on June 5 to decide what immediate action is required to address Delhi's water shortage, whereby the meeting's decision would be presented to the Court within a day.
Notably, the Delhi government clarified that the assistance in terms of additional water supply was sought merely as a stop-gap arrangement to deal with the current crisis, without prejudice to any inter-state water dispute and/or the capital's claim over shared water resources.
The matter is next listed on June 6.
Case Title: GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI Versus STATE OF HARYANA AND ORS., Diary No. 25504-2024