NEW DELHI—On April 4, another hearing on the contentious issue of the construction of the SYL-Canal was conducted by the Indian Supreme Court . The Counsel of Haryana, Advocate Shyam Divan, submitted his case against the legal validity of the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act of 2004. He cited two verdicts of the Supreme Court on the Cauvery water dispute between Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala. He told the court that the Apex Court had clarified that no state assembly possesses any right to pass a law denying water to other states.
The five-member bench headed by Justice Anil R Dave includes Justices PC Ghose, SK Singh, AK Goel and Amitava Roy. The bench asked the legal counsel of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi for their opinions. The advocates for all four states backed Haryana’s arguments.
On being asked by the court for Punjab’s argument, Punjab’s counsel, Advocate Rajeev Dhawan, attacked Haryana’s claims that an assembly of a state doesn’t have any right to cancel its pacts with other states. Advocate Rajeev Dhawan said that the central government was following a double standard on this issue due to upcoming assembly elections. He urged the court to pressure the central government for a clear stand since earlier, the center had recommended a Presidential reference on the issue.
In India, the President of India can request the Supreme Court of India to provide its advice on certain matters. This procedure is called “Presidential Reference”. According to Article 143 of the Constitution of India, the President of India may refer to the Supreme Court of India, a question of law or fact which, he thinks, is of public importance. However, it is not binding on the Supreme Court to answer questions raised in the reference.
Dhavan said the center should be forced to explain if the Punjab law conflicted with the Punjab Reorganisation Act and the Inter-State Water Disputes Act. “If you want me to go out of the courtroom and take instructions from Punjab [to walk] out of the case, I will do that,” Dhavan told the Bench.
Due to the absence of the Solicitor General of the center, the Court deferred the next hearing on the case to April 8.
Reunify Punjab ,Haryana and Himachal Pardesh and J and K .
The SYL problem will be solved automatically.
Nothing Great has happened by fragmentation of Punjab .
IF Germany and Europe can Reunify then so can we.
No heavens is going to fall .