Chandigarh, May 14 (PTI) The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday sought response from the Centre, Haryana and Bhakra Beas Management Board on Punjab’s plea for a review of its May 6 order on releasing 4,500 cusecs of extra water to Haryana.
A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel fixed May 20 as the next date of hearing.
A state government spokesperson said Punjab raised strong objections to the Centre’s May 2 decision, arguing that the Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan lacks jurisdiction to decide on water allocation under the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) rules.
Senior counsel Gurminder Singh, appearing alongside Punjab Advocate General Maninderjit Singh Bedi and Additional Advocate General Chanchal Singla, contended that the BBMB “misrepresented facts to execute an illegal order allocating extra water to Haryana”.
The high court on May 6 had directed Punjab to abide by the decision of the meeting held under the chairmanship of the Union Home Secretary.
Mohan had on May 2 chaired the high-level meeting, which advised to implement the BBMB’s decision to release 4,500 cusecs of extra water from the Bhakra Dam to Haryana for the next eight days to meet the state’s urgent water requirements.
In its petition, Punjab objected that the Union home secretary was not the appropriate authority to deal with the issue related to release of water.
The spokesperson said the state government stressed that under Article 262 of the Constitution and the Inter-State Water Dispute Act, 1956, release of water to Haryana beyond Punjab’s determined share requires its consent.
In its submission, the Punjab government stated it had already consented to provide 4,000 cusecs of water daily to Haryana but objected to the additional demand of 4,500 cusecs for eight days.
The court was informed that during an extraordinary BBMB meeting on April 28, Punjab filed specific objections to Haryana’s demand for 8,500 cusecs of water and no consensus was reached, said the spokesperson.
The Punjab government maintained that any water dispute between states can only be decided by constituting a water tribunal, said the spokesperson.
Punjab AG Bedi said the state government had filed a review petition on May 12 challenging, alleging procedural violations and misrepresentation of facts.
The petition contended that the BBMB was attempting to “illegally” divert Punjab’s water to Haryana at the behest of the BJP-led Centre.
The spokesperson said the key arguments in the review petition included concerns about the May 2 meeting, which was “incorrectly” portrayed as a formal decision-making forum when no official minutes were ever provided to state authorities.
The Punjab government submitted that only a press note was circulated about the May 2 meeting instead of formal minutes, which cannot be considered an official record of decisions made.
Despite the lack of proper documentation and authorization, the BBMB proceeded to release water to Haryana without completing the required legal process, the Punjab spokesperson said. PTI CHS ZMN
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