Water dispute: HC dismisses Punjab's plea seeking recall or modification of May 6 order

Punjab's plea for water recall dismissed by Punjab and Haryana High Court due to material concealment allegations.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed the Punjab government's plea seeking a recall or modification of its May 6 order which asked it to release water to Haryana.

Punjab had sought a recall or modification of the high court's order pertaining to Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan's May 2 decision to release 4,500 cusecs of extra water to Haryana.

The high court had directed Punjab to abide by the decision of the meeting held on May 2 under the chairmanship of the Union Home Secretary.

Punjab had alleged concealment of "material facts" by the Centre, Haryana and the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) which led to the May 6 high court order.

In the order that came out on Saturday, the division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel dismissed the Punjab government's plea.

Referring to the state of Punjab's assertion that disputes relating to water between two or more states emanate from Article 262 of the Constitution, pursuant to which Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, the court said, "Merely because this court held that Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 is a manifestation of Article 262 (1) of the Constitution, does not help the stance of State of Punjab in any manner in its attempt to seek re-calling/ modification of the order, unless the State of Punjab can show that because of this error, any prejudice has been caused to it, which is certainly not the case herein."

The major thrust of Punjab's argument is as regards material concealment on the part of BBMB and Haryana by contending that the April 29 letter of Haryana, requesting the BBMB Chairman to refer the matter to the Centre was not brought to the notice of the court.