Amarinder Singh, Congress MLAs resign in wake of SYL verdict
New Delhi/ Chandigarh: Punjab on Thursday suffered a serious setback as the Supreme Court held as unconstitutional the 2004 law passed by it to terminate the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal water sharing agreement with neighbouring states.
“All the questions have been answered in the negative,” a five-judge bench headed by Justice A R Dave said, while pronouncing its decision on the presidential reference received by it.
The judgement makes it clear that the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004 is “unconstitutional” and Punjab could not have taken a “unilateral” decision to terminate the water sharing agreement with Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh.
The bench, which also included Justices P C Ghose, Shiva Kirti Singh, A K Goel and Amitava Roy, was unanimous in holding that all the five questions of Presidential reference have to be answered in the negative. The judgement implies that the 2004 Act was not in consonance with the apex court judgement of 2003 which had mandated the construction of the SYL canal that has been stalled.
By the 2004 Act brought by the then Congress government led by Captain Amarinder Singh, the state had sought to nullify the SC verdict by stopping the construction of the remaining part of the SYL canal. The judgement came on the presidential reference of 2004 on the controversy relating to sharing of water from SYL canal by the north Indian states.
The Centre had said it was not taking sides and maintaining a neutral stand in the matter in which the court has recorded the stands of other states — Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. During the hearing of the case, while Punjab Assembly passed a law to return the land acquired on its side for the construction of SYL canal, the Haryana government approached the apex court which directed that status quo be maintained.
The Parkash Singh Badal government had submitted that a fresh tribunal be set up to resolve all disputes with other states including Haryana on all aspects, which will also cover the riparian rights and the dwindling flow of water.
Meanwhile in Chandigarh, after the SC announced its verdict on the SYL water sharing agreement, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh on Thursday resigned from his Lok Sabha seat while his party MLAs resigned en-masse from the state assembly, “in protest against the injustice meted out to the people of the state”.
Amarinder, who was also former CM of Punjab , has sent his resignation to the Lok Sabha Speaker, copy of which was released to the media here, and has also sought a personal meeting with the Speaker next week. The party MLAs have also sent their resignations to the Speaker, Punjab Assembly.
In his resignation letter, Captain Amarinder said he had decided to quit as member of the Lok Sabha from Amritsar constituency in Punjab with immediate effect “as a mark of protest against the deprivation of the people of my state of the much-needed Sutlej river water.”
Describing the SYL judgement by the apex court as a “major blow to the people of Punjab,” he said he had always fought for their legitimate right on this issue and continues to stand by them at this critical juncture in the state’s journey. (PTI)