Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar. (File) The dispute between Punjab and Haryana on the issue of sharing waters through Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal is all set to reach the Supreme Court once again. It was in 2016 when the constitutional bench of the top court had first given a verdict on the dispute in favour of Haryana. Subsequently, the Supreme Court had also suggested that the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana should sit together and find an amicable solution to the dispute.
In the special session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha convened Tuesday, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar made it clear that “this issue [SYL canal] can not be resolved by holding a meeting between the chief ministers” of the two states. “We will have to get an execution order from the Supreme Court on the verdict announced by it in 2016. We will be writing to the Supreme Court citing all the efforts that we made post the verdict. We will be taking the stance that the matter can not be resolved in a meeting between the two states,” Khattar said.
Khattar said, “Since that SC verdict, 41 events have taken place. The Supreme Court held at least 21 hearings. It eventually ordered that states should resolve this matter with Centre. Then the SC also asked CMs of Punjab and Haryana to sit and resolve this issue. However, despite my several reminders, then Punjab CM did not agree to hold a sitting with me. Then Covid happened. We never wanted to make it an election issue, because it would have disturbed law and order situation. We waited for Covid to get over”.
The senior BJP leader said that after a new government took charge of Punjab, “we were hoping that things will move” in the right direction. “However, what they [AAP government] have done, definitely raises a question on their intentions. We have already discussed the issue with Advocate General and we have been advised to take execution orders from the SC to get its verdict on SYL canal implemented. We shall again get it studied legally”.
Interrupting Khattar, Leader of Opposition and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that in his opinion “there was no requirement of filing for any execution petition” in the SC. “The matter is already settled. The only question is to get the Constitutional Bench’s verdict implemented and the Union government should get it done. The CM should lead an all-party delegation and meet both PM and President asking them to get it implemented,” Hooda said.
Khattar reiterated and announced on floor of the House that “we shall be writing a letter to SC and maintain this stand that there is no scope of sitting with Punjab on the issue of SYL”.
Earlier, while speaking on the issue, Khattar narrated the suggestions of Shah Commission dated May 31, 1966. “Shah Commission had suggested Kharar tehsil, including Chandigarh, should be transferred to Haryana since over 71 per cent people (there) were found Hindi speaking. In June 1966, a Union cabinet meeting held that Kharar tehsil’s Punjabi speaking areas should go to Punjab and Hindi speaking areas should go to Haryana and Chandigarh should be kept as Union Territory. Then Indira Gandhi accord suggested that Chandigarh should be given to Punjab and 105 Hindi speaking villages should be given to Haryana. After that Rajiv-Longowal accord happened and Venkatramiah Commission was constituted. Various tribunals and accords that took place gave their suggestions, recommendations and rulings. But, the issues remained unresolved”.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
