Chandigarh, January 3
The Punjab Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh, today convened an all-party meeting here for January 8 to discuss the SYL canal issue .

Confirming this the Chief Secretary, Mr Y.S. Ratra, said the state was already in the process of filing curative and civil writs as replies, in the Supreme Court for which the Chief Minister has had discussions with leading lawyers.

It may be recalled that Punjab is to file its reply before January 15. The Supreme Court had in its January 2001 judgment directed the Centre and Punjab to complete the SYL canal within one year and if it was not done, the Centre was asked to step in and do the needful.

The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, has already convened an all-party meeting for January 14 to drum up political support. That meeting, will be boycotted by the Congress. Though Mr Bhajan Lal, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee President, proposes to hold a rally in Delhi, AICC President Sonia Gandhi is reported to have decided to distance herself from the SYL issue.

Informed sources in Punjab say that earlier it was proposed to convene a special session of the Vidhan Sabha. Even opinion of the Advocate-General was sought. Later, the idea of a special session was dropped though that would have given the state ‘’legal immunity’’. Nevertheless, as long as the all-party meeting confines itself to stating facts and does not cast any aspersions on the judiciary, there should be no problem with the outcome or resolution, which has to be carefully worded, say the sources.

Meanwhile, Punjab is all set to muster political, legal and administrative support for its point of view on the SYL canal. The main plank Punjab is working on is to seek ‘’need-based and ability-based equitable justice’’ for farmers when it comes to sharing of water.

This is the second occasion when Capt. Amarinder Singh has called an all-party meeting. Earlier, it was on the issue of pricing and procurement of paddy.