Do not take court proceedings for granted: SC to Delhi govt

New Delhi : During the hearing on a plea filed by the Delhi government seeking the release of additional water from neighbouring states, the Supreme Court on Monday came down heavily on the city government for taking the court proceedings for granted.

“We will dismiss this petition. On the last date also, this was pointed out but you did not remove the defects. You do not take court proceedings for granted, howsoever important your case may be!” a vacation bench presided over by Justice P.K. Mishra told the counsel representing the Delhi government.

The Bench, also comprising Justice P.B. Varale, turned furious after it was pointed out that the respondents (Union, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh governments) could not have e-filed the status reports/compliance affidavits in terms of the previous order of the apex court due to non-curing of defects by the Delhi government’s side.

At this, the counsel representing the Delhi government tendered apologies and assured that needful would be done by the end of the day.

Adjourning the matter for further hearing on June 12, the apex court deprecated the practice of handing over documents straightaway in open court. It said, “If we don't read the files at our residential office we will be impressed by whatever the newspapers are reporting. That is not good for any of the parties.”

Last week, the Supreme Court directed the Himachal Pradesh government to release surplus water on June 7 so that it reaches the national capital "uninterruptedly" and is made available to the Delhiites for drinking purposes.

"We direct that Himachal Pradesh shall release 137 cusecs of surplus water available with it on Friday so that the water reaches Hathni Kund barrage and reaches Delhi through Wazirabad. As and when surplus water is released with prior information by the state of Himachal Pradesh, the state of Haryana shall facilitate the flow of surplus water so released," it had ordered on June 6.

The apex court had said that the Delhi government should adhere to the measures suggested by the Upper Yamuna River Board to prevent wastage of water since there is an acute shortage of drinking water in the national capital.

It had ordered for filing of a status report and compliance affidavits by June 10.

Earlier, the SC had ordered the river board to convene an urgent meeting on June 5 to address the water crisis in the city, stressing that the problems of scarcity of water for the citizens of Delhi should be properly addressed.