NEW DELHI: Supreme Court has warned that decrees passed in the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal dispute between Punjab and Haryana cannot be flouted, before asking both states to implement its orders. "We will not allow the decree passed by this court to be flouted and it has to be implemented. How the decree is being implemented is the headache of the concerned parties," said a bench of justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy. It said the interim order of status quo will continue.
The Court had said that the reports of Union Home Secretary, Chief Secretary of Punjab, and Director General of Police of Punjab, who were appointed as court receivers of the land and other properties of the canal, have indicated that status quo has been maintained. However, senior advocate Jagdeep Dhankar, appearing for Haryana, objected to a finding, saying that the report says the on-site visit by the committee "no deliberate damage" has been done. "I have a problem with the world 'deliberate' used in the report," he said.
Appearing on behalf of Ministry of Home Affairs, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar said their reply was ready and can be filed in the course of a week. He said that Haryana has not challenged the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act, 2004, and therefore it has not been set aside till now. "The regulations are still there. The effect of apex court's decree cannot be there unless the Act passed by the legislature is nullified," Kumar said. He added the answers to Presidential reference fell under the advisory jurisdiction and hence, the court has not set aside the Act.
Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Punjab, said the Centre should intervene among the states involved in the dispute and sort out the issue. "We would file the reply once the Centre has filed its reply on Haryana's plea. The Centre should behave like elder arbitrator and settle the issue once and for all," he said. The Apex Court directed the Centre to file its reply during the course of week and Punjab in three weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on February 15.
