Delhi Water Crisis: The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Delhi government over its failure to tackle the tanker mafia operating in the national capital. The Supreme Court also pulled up the AAP government for concealing previous court orders in their petition. However, the Delhi government maintained that the Haryana government is obstructing water to Delhi and they have taken action to control water wastage in the national capital.
The court ordered that the Delhi government should file an affidavit by 4 PM today as to what measures it has taken to control wastage of water in Delhi and tackle tanker mafia. The court will resume hearing the matter tomorrow.
SC Pulls UP Himachal Govt Over 'False Statements In Court', Warns Of Contempt Case
The Supreme Court also pulled up the Himachal government over the excess water it had promised to the Delhi government.
Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra after going through the status reports asked why false statements were made in court about excess water with Himachal Pradesh.
"You submit that they have excess water and now they (Himachal government) say they have already given it meaning nothing. The entire basis of the plea is that Himachal Pradesh has excess water that is 137 cusecs," the court asked the counsel appearing for Delhi.
The top court further pointed out how tanker mafias are getting water in Delhi when pipelines are running dry."
"Why were false statements made before this court? If water is coming from Himachal Pradesh then where is the water going in Delhi? There is so much spillage, tanker mafias, etc...what measures have you taken in this regard?" Justice Mishra asked the Delhi government.
"In Delhi tanker mafias work. Have you taken any action? If you are not taking action then we will hand it over to Delhi police to take action against Tanker mafias. We are seeing this in all channels. You are not doing anything in this regard. It is a recurring problem every summer. What have you done to prevent water wastage coming from all these sources...have you taken any action or FIR against any tanker mafias? Tanker mafias get water and pipelines are running dry." the bench added.
Advocate Shadan Farasat appearing for Delhi said that the city government has taken actions including massive disconnection of water supplies etc. He further assured the court that all that excess water wastage is stopped.
The top court however asked the Delhi government to file a detailed affidavit on action taken to control wastage of water.
The top court also asked the Himachal government to explain if it lied about the excess water and if not then explain where the excess water and why it has not been released yet. The bench directed Himachal government to send its officer in court who had prepared a chart stating that Himachal has excess water on basis of which the court passed an interim order directing the Himachal government to release surplus water and Haryana government to allow that water to flow through Wazirabad barrage in Delhi.
"You keep your officer present tomorrow. We are persuaded to pass the interim order based on your statement that you have excess water." The top court warned the Himachal counsel.
Himachal Pradesh counsel assured the court that it has excess water.
The court then asked why it is not released then and warned Himachal government of contempt of court case.
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the BJP led Haryana government to release the additional surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh to Delhi in the wake of extreme Heatwave and Delhi water crisis. The court further said that there should be no wastage of water by the Delhi government.
The court will resume hearing the case tomorrow.