New Delhi, April 13
The Supreme Court today admitted a contempt petition against the Centre and the Punjab Government for their “failure” to implement its two judgements ordering construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal and tagged it with the Presidential reference on the validity of an Act passed by Punjab abrogating all water accords from 1981 onwards with neighbouring states.
A Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal, Mr Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Mr Justice Markandey Katju, while admitted the contempt petition filed by Pratap Singh Chautala, brother of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash, directed that it should be listed for hearing along with the Presidential reference of July 22, 2004.
Last month, a Bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal had said that the Presidential reference would be listed for hearing only after the coming summer vacation, when Haryana had sought early hearing of the matter.
Chautala in his petition, moved through advocate D.K. Garg, sought initiation of contempt proceedings against the officials concerned with the Centre and the Punjab Government for not implementing the January 15, 2002 and June 4, 2004 judgements of the apex court, issuing clear directions to the state and the Centre to construct the SYL canal.
In the first order of January 15, 2002 the direction was to the Punjab Government along with the Centre and in the second verdict of June 4, 2004 the Centre was asked to complete the project after Punjab had sought to discharge itself from the obligation, the petitioner pointed out.
“If clear orders of the court are not implemented by the governments or their instrumentalities, it would shake the faith of the common man in the judiciary and the democratic process is likely to be eroded, which if not checked, will be disastrous for the society and the nation,” Chautala in his petition said.
While accusing the Congress Government in Punjab led by Capt Amarinder Singh of “circumventing” the Supreme Court orders by getting passed the “Punjab Termination of Agreement Act, 2004”, the petitioner also alleged that former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had also “openly stated that he will not implement the order of January 15, 2002”.
“The state of Punjab and Union Government are equally responsible for not implementing the Supreme Court orders,” the petition said, while urging the apex court to issue fresh directions to them to complete the 120-km-long SYL canal to provide Haryana its share of water from the Ravi-Beas river network.
