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River waters row : Punjab puts Centre in a fix |
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Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has put the Manmohan Singh Government in a fix by unilaterally scrapping a river agreement in a bid to avoid sharing waters with neighbouring Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi. The Chief Minister, say observers, was playing to the gallery and appealing to the sentiments of the people of Punjab. The move is likely to have an impact in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs decided that the Centre would seek “directions” from the SC on what it should do now that a new situation has been created with the Punjab law. The Punjab law abrogates the 1981 water-sharing agreement and circumvents the apex court order that the Centre must start the construction of the SYL Canal from July 15.
Ironically, although the Punjab Assembly enacted the law with extraordinary haste three days before this SC deadline, the state Government shied away from admitting that the judgment was in any way a provocation for the whole exercise. This despite the fact that the Punjab Termination of Agreements Bill introduced, passed, signed and notified on July 12 contains an elaborate three-page preamble, purportedly detailing the circumstances in which the law was enacted “in public interest.”
The preamble made no reference to the Supreme Court judgment of June 4 directing the Punjab Government to hand over the Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal project to the Centre by July 15. The omission has raised eyebrows in legal circles as it is contrary to the general practice in a repealing or validating law to state the occasion for its enactment. Instead, in a new twist, the preamble makes out that the cause of action for the Act was not any event of last month but an inter-state agreement signed way back in 1981 and the “obligations thereunder.” Observers note there is not a word of explanation for why a 1981 contract has prompted a legislative response in 2004.
The omission of the Supreme Court’s role in the matter seems deliberate because even “the statement of objects and reasons” of the Act does not touch upon the June 4 judgment nor the July 15 deadline. However, it’s the court again that the Centre is turning to.
The Congress, said sources, is hoping that with the involvement of four states on a matter as sensitive as water, the issue might go to a Constitution bench. If that happens, the Court would naturally look into all aspects of the case and this would help the political establishment buy some time.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh admitted that he had not informed either Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Congress President Sonia Gandhi in advance about what he had planned to do.
What now is worrying top leaders of the Congress is how Punjab’s action will affect Haryana, where the party is facing state assembly elections in a few months. The sympathy for the Congress, which enabled it to win a resounding victory in Haryana in the Lok Sabha poll, could evaporate with the action of the Congress Government in Punjab. All the 19 Congress MLAs of Haryana have sent in their resignations as a protest against Punjab’s step. Haryana has also warned that its supply of water to Delhi could be affected if no remedial action was taken.
While BJP’s Haryana unit has called for a state-wide bandh on July 19, the Punjab BJP has supported the annulment of the Ravi-Beas river pact of 1981.
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