NEW DELHI: The Haryana government told the Delhi High Court on Wednesday it has been ensuring free flow of Yamuna water to the national capital and there are no illegal bundhs or other structures blocking the supply.
In its reply filed in response to applications by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) seeking an unhindered supply of clean Yamuna water, Haryana also said the issues of quality of water and its distribution between the two states are in the nature of “Interstate river water dispute” and cannot be decided by the high court.
Responding to allegations that water from Haryana contained pollutants, the reply said the water at the entry point is clean but gets “heavily polluted” in the territory of Delhi. The DJB’s applications were filed in a 2013 PIL by lawyer S B Tripathi seeking sufficient water supply for Delhi.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad granted time to DJB to respond to the submissions made by Haryana and listed the case for further hearing on May 23. The DJB had moved the high court earlier this year, stating that in spite of an order passed in May 2019 directing the removal of “illegal bundhs or blockades” from the river, images “clearly showed” such structures blocking the water flow to Delhi.
In its reply, Haryana said the issue of polluted water raised in the application has been dealt with by various other fora, including the Supreme Court, and the high court should first adjudicate the preliminary matter with regard to the maintainability of the petition. An application filed by a state or its department against another state is not maintainable before the High Court, especially when it pertains to water disputes, it said.
“The present application against raising the issue regarding the quality and low/quantity of the water filed before this Hon’ble Court is totally misconceived. The applications is nothing more than an act of forum shopping,” it said. The response also said the Haryana government has complied with the 2019 high court order directing the supply of water to Delhi without any hindrance and there were no illegal structures on the river.