The Supreme Court has scrapped Punjab Termination of Water Agreements Act, 2004

•  In a setback to the Punjab government, the Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped the 2004 Punjab Act that was passed to end all water agreements the state had with its neighbors.
• Declaring the act unconstitutional, the top court said Punjab cannot unilaterally wriggle out of an agreement involving other states.
• The court held that Punjab water termination law of 2004 was not in sync with the 2003 SC judgment.
• It directed Punjab to construct the remaining part of SYL canal as per the 2003 judgment of the apex court to supply Harayana its share of water.
• The apex court concluded that the Act was illegally designed to terminate a December 31, 1981 agreement entered into among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan to re-allocate the waters of Ravi and Beas in “overall national interest and for optimum utilisation of the waters”. The SYL Canal was a product of this 1981 agreement.
• By introducing the 2004 Act, the State defied two back-to-back apex court verdicts, pronounced in 2002 and 2004. The first one had directed Punjab to complete the SYL Canal in a year. The second judgment had ordered the formation of a central agency to “take control” of Punjab's work on the canal.
• In 2016, The new legislation by the Akali-BJP government intended to cancel the land acquired for the SYL canal and return it to farmers if they paid back the compensation.

About Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal Land (Transfer of Property Rights) Bill, 2016:

• The Bill seeks to return 3,928 acres of land free of cost to the original landowners. The Bill was passed unanimously in the House.
• No suit, prosecution and all other legal proceedings can be instituted against the state government or any person for anything done in good faith.
• No civil court will have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceedings in respect of any matter

Timeline

• The dispute over the rivers can be traced back to Indus Water Treaty of 1960 between India and Pakistan, allowing the former “free and unrestricted use” of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.
• Subsequently, Haryana was carved out of Punjab through the Punjab Re-organisation Act of 1966. The Centre went on to allot Haryana with 3 M.A.F. quantity of water under a notification issued in March 1976. To implement this notification and for water to flow into the State, Haryana began its construction of SYL Canal the same year while Punjab delayed it till the early 1980s.
• The 1981 agreement saw the States mutually agree to the re-allocation of water, this time taking into consideration the needs of Haryana. SYL canal was supposed to be completed in the next two years.
• However, work came to stop after militant attacks on senior canal staffers.
• In 1996, Haryana approached the Supreme Court for early completion of the canal. In 2002, Supreme Court ordered Punjab to complete the canal in a year. A subseuent suit filed by Punjab against the canal was dismissed in June 2004.
• Punjab Assembly responded by passing the 2004 Act, terminating all its obligations under the 1981 Act despite the Supreme Court judgments.
• Apprehending trouble, then President A.P.J Kalam sought the Supreme Court's opinion on the 2004 Act under Article 143 (1) of the Constitution.

By: Vishal