HC refuses to stay Haryana paddy sowing ban on panchayat land

CHANDIGARH: Observing that aquifers are “overstressed,” the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday refused to stay Haryana’s crop diversification scheme, ‘Mera Pani Meri Virasat,’ which had banned farmers from sowing paddy on land leased from panchayats in some blocks of the state to conserve underground water.
Last month, a division bench, comprising Justice Ajay Tewari and Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri had imposed a stay on the Khattar government’s orders issued on May 20 and 22 restraining farmers from sowing paddy on the panchayat land in 12 blocks of four districts in Haryana.
However, the Haryana government then approached the Supreme Court (SC) on the issue after which the apex court vacated the stay and referred the matter back to the high court for adjudication.
Now, a division bench, comprising Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu, directed the Haryana government on Friday to revive, preserve, conserve and protect all the water bodies in the state “to ensure to boost the recharge of underground water.”
“According to available data, millions of cubic metres of groundwater is extracted annually for irrigation in India. There is overexploitation of groundwater leading to grave threat to aquifers of Indo-Gangetic plains due to excessive/ intensive pumping of water. ,” observed the HC while passing its order on a petition filed by Jasbir Singh and others , of Dhurala village Kurukshetra district.
Efforts to save water
HC seeks reply on farmers’ contentions
There would be rapid desertification of fertile land leading to dust storms blowing away the topsoil.
The excessive exploitation of groundwater is a threat to the environment and ecology. We are extracting more water than is replenished,” observed the high court. Praising the Haryana government over its “laudable steps” for diversification of crops, the HC division bench observed, “The aquifers are ‘over-stressed/
extremely stressed.’ In case, the remedial measures are not taken, it would lead to classification of certain over-exploited blocks/zones as dark zones.”
The bench, however, issued notice to the Haryana government seeking the state’s reply on the contentions raised by the farmers. All the petitions challenging the scheme have now been clubbed by the HC and will be heard on August 11.
The petitioners said that the Haryana government had issued an order dated May 20 and 22 for implementation of the crop diversification scheme, ‘Mera Paani Meri Virasat’.
The order stated that gram panchayats of blocks of Thanesar, Pipli, Babain, Shahbad, Ismailabad have been prohibited from cultivating paddy on their agricultural land.