Contempt proceedings against Parkash Singh Badal on SYL canal issue has been dropped
The Supreme Court has closed contempt proceedings against Punjab's former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in a matter related to the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue.
The matter came up for hearing on Tuesday before a bench of Justices SK Kaul, AS Oka and Vikram Nath.
The Supreme Court observed that one of the prayers in the contempt petition "has worked itself out by which the Punjab Assembly Special Session was sought to be restrained from holding the proposed session on November 16, 2016." The bench noted in view of some statements made by political dispensations, it was said the top court should initiate suo motu (on its own) contempt proceedings.
"We have referred the matter for a mediated settlement. If required, the court will execute the decree. If this court feels that some suo motu contempt proceedings are to be initiated, it will take a call," the bench said in its order.
"For all these purposes, we do not believe would require the assistance of the applicant. The contempt proceedings are accordingly closed and the contempt notice stands discharged," it said.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner alleged the then Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab had given statements saying they would not allow implementation of the Supreme Court judgement in the SYL matter.
The centre had on Tuesday told the Supreme Court the Punjab government is "not cooperating" in resolving the decades-old SYL canal dispute between the state and Haryana.
The Supreme Court, which observed that water is a natural resource and living beings must learn to share it, had said the parties have to have a "broader outlook" and realise the ramifications and necessity of a negotiated settlement, more so in view of security concerns, apparently referring to the occasional violence over the project.
The counsel appearing for Punjab had told the bench the state government is very keen to resolve the issue amicably.
In 2017, the Supreme Court had said that decrees passed in the SYL canal dispute between Punjab and Haryana cannot be flouted. The controversial 1981 water-sharing agreement came into being after Haryana was carved out of Punjab in 1966.
For effective allocation of water, SYL canal link was conceptualised. A stretch of 214 km SYL was set to be built, of which 122 km were to be in Punjab and 92 km in Haryana.
In 2004, the then Congress government of the state came out with the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act with an intention to terminate the 1981 agreement and all other pacts relating to sharing of waters of rivers Ravi and Beas.
The Supreme Court had first decreed the suit of Haryana in 2002 asking Punjab to honour its commitments with regard to water sharing in the case.
Punjab challenged the verdict by filing a suit which was rejected in 2004 by the Supreme Court.