Delhi Water Crisis : Supreme Court Asks Upper Yamuna River Board To Convene Urgent Meeting On June 5

To resolve the water crisis being faced by residents of Delhi, the Supreme Court today asked the Upper Yamuna River Board to call for an emergent meeting of all stakeholder-states on June 5 and submit the Minutes of the Meeting as well as the suggested steps by June 6.

“There shall be an emergent meeting of Upper Yamuna River Board on June 5, 2024, to address the issues agitated in this petition and all other connected issues in right earnest so that problems of scarcity of water for the citizens of Delhi should be properly addressed. Post this matter on Thursday (June 6) along with the minutes of the meeting and the suggested steps", the Vacation Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan ordered.

The Court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government, to facilitate the Board's meeting on June 5 so that the crisis can be resolved.

Briefly put, the Court was dealing with a writ petition filed by the Delhi government seeking directions to the State of Haryana for immediate release of water to the crisis-hit national capital. It stated that the capital is facing an acute shortage of water due to the severe heatwave conditions prevailing in north India.

Despite taking all possible administrative measures to ensure optimization, rationing, and targeted supply, the plea said, there was an emergent situation in the capital, as the demand for water was increasing exponentially but supply was limited. As such, there was a need for additional water supply from neighboring states.

As per the petitioner-government, one of the neighboring states (that is Himachal Pradesh) had agreed to share its surplus water with Delhi. However, to avert the crisis, cooperation was required from State of Haryana, which shares borders with the capital unlike Himachal Pradesh and can assist by releasing water to Delhi, including that which is offered to be channeled by Himachal Pradesh.

During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi (for Delhi Government) stressed on reciprocal obligations of Haryana by pointing out that Delhi is home to migrants from the state. Averring that Haryana must come to Delhi's aid in resolving the crisis, he apprised that a request had been made to the Haryana government, but the same had not been acceded yet.

The senior counsel further clarified that Delhi government's plea is not adversarial and the goal is to mitigate the water crisis through one-time use of additional water which Himachal Pradesh has agreed to share with Delhi.

On the other hand, SG Tushar Mehta submitted that the Board can meet and arrange for additional water, but in the meantime, Delhi government must stop wastage of nearly 50% water supplied to the national capital.

“As per the figures placed before the Board, of every 100 litres of water that Delhi gets, only 48.65 litres reach the people in the Capital. 52.35% of it is lost due to leakage, tanker mafia and theft by industrial units. The government will have to tighten it”, SG said.

“What he (SG Mehta) is saying is also right. There should not be any wastage of water. We will look into this also at a subsequent stage.”, the court remarked.

The parties then made a joint statement, which was recorded, to the effect that a meeting of the UYRB would be held on June 5 to decide what immediate action is required to address Delhi's water shortage. Thereafter, the Board's decision would be presented to the Court within a day.

The matter is next listed on June 6.

Case Title: GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI Versus STATE OF HARYANA AND ORS., Diary No. 25504-2024

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