Remove defects in petition: SC to AAP

Satya PrakashNew Delhi, June 10The Supreme Court on Monday took strong exception to the Delhi Government’s failure to remove certain defects in its petition seeking a direction to the Haryana Government to release surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh to deal with the water crisis in Delhi.Delhi Govt had sought directions to Haryana Govt to release surplus water provided by Himachal PradeshUpper Yamuna River Board says Himachal has shared incomplete informationDeferring the hearing to Wednesday, a Vacation Bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice PB Varale warned that it would dismiss the petition if defects were not removed. “You cannot take this court for a ride. Let the office (Supreme Court Registry) verify that you removed the defects and if you did not, then let the petition be dismissed… It will be dismissed,” the Bench told senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi who represented the Delhi Government.“Defects were pointed out last week and still defects are not removed. Mr Singhvi will not remove the defects…” the Bench said after senior counsel Shyam Divan pointed out on behalf of the Haryana Government that the state was unable to upload its documents as defects in the Delhi Government’s petition had not been removed.The Haryana Government was also represented by Senior Additional Advocate General Lokesh Sinhal.Meanwhile, Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) has told the Bench that “complete information for ascertaining the utilisation (of water) by HP has not been supplied. The Board said Himachal Pradesh was required to provide details such as location, latitude and longitude of withdrawal point, authorised/approved discharge of scheme of that particular withdrawal point, water utilised by HP and surplus water released for Delhi.“Himachal Pradesh needs to submit the details…to ascertain their utilised share (of water) in the absence of which the Board is not in a position to estimate the unutilised share of the State of HP which they want to share with NCT of Delhi and pass through the State of Haryana,” the UYRB said.Noting that there was excessive media coverage of the matter, the Bench said it would prefer to read the case file first, instead of going by media reports. It noted compliance/status reports filed by the UYRB and states of Haryana, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh were not on record as defects in the Delhi Government’s petition had not been removed.

Remove defects in petition: SC to AAP

Tribune News Service