Plea in Delhi HC for action against Haryana for not supplying adequate water to national capital

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the governments of Delhi and Haryana to respond to a plea seeking contempt action against Haryana officials for not supplying adequate water to the national capital parts of which are reeling under acute water shortage in peak summer.

A vacation bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna issued notice and asked the governments of Delhi and Haryana and senior officers of the Department of Irrigation and Water Resources of Haryana to file their replies within three weeks.

The high court listed the matter for further hearing on July 24.

The high court was hearing a plea by advocate SB Tripathi alleging that the state of Haryana has reduced water supply to Delhi, that too during summer season, and that the short supply was “deliberate, intentional and with malafide intentions”.

The petitioner said Haryana had filed an affidavit in the high court in May 2023 stating that Delhi has an allocation of 719 cusecs water from the upper riparian state of Haryana which is supplying nearly 1040 cusecs to the national capital by diverting nearly 321 cusecs from the share of its own citizens.

The 2023 affidavit had stated that till date Haryana never said anything about reducing the supply of 1040 cusecs.

On January 15, 2024, the high court had disposed of Tripathi’s main petition seeking sufficient water supply for Delhi.

The high court had accepted Haryana’s undertaking and statement and said the state was bound by the same.

In his plea, the petitioner has sought initiation of contempt proceedings against senior officers of the Department of Irrigation and Water Resources of the government of Haryana for their alleged wilful and deliberate disobedience of January 15, 2024 order of the high court.

“There is willful and deliberate defiance of the January 15, 2024 order and Delhi residents are facing acute water crisis and therefore contempt proceedings are liable to be initiated by this court against the respondents,” the plea said.

It claimed Haryana has reduced water supply through Munak Carrier Line Channel (CLC) and sometimes there was absolutely no water supply through this canal.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court also observed that people in Delhi are suffering due to water scarcity and slammed the AAP government over water wastage and tanker mafia and sought to know what steps it has taken to ease the recurring problem.

The apex court told the Delhi government that it will ask the city police to take action against the tanker mafia if it can't deal with them. If the same water can be transported using tankers, why can't it be supplied through the pipeline, a disquieted top court said.