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Matter of dignity, SYL order must be implemented: SC

sylNew Delhi, April 27
Terming it a question of dignity of a decree passed by it, the Supreme Court on Wednesday reiterated that its order for construction of Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal should be implemented.
“The dignity of the decree passed by this court must be maintained…. Whether the matter is settled or not settled, we are not bothered about it…we are bothered about implementation of our order,” a Bench headed by Justice PC Ghose said.
The court’s comments came after Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told the Bench that there have been talks between Punjab and Haryana in the capital on April 20 but the outcome of the negotiations wasn’t known.
There has also been meeting of the two chief ministers with the Prime Minister, Kumar told the Bench.
On behalf of Haryana, senior counsel Shyam Divan said the state had to wait for several years for the decree. He expressed the apprension that people would lose faith in the judicial system if there was further delay in execution of the decree passed in 2002.
Senior counsel RS Suri, who represented Punjab and Advocate General Atul Nanda said the decree was not executable and it would require time to argue the matter.
The bench posted the matter for hearing on July 11, after the summer vacation.
Justice Ghose, who is retiring on May 27, said: “My brother will be there”, alluding to Justice Amitava Roy — the other judge on the Bench.
The Supreme Court had on April 12 asked the Centre, Punjab and Haryana to finish their talks on the construction of the SYL canal “as soon as it can be”, saying it will decide the matter if negotiations remained unresolved.
“If it is settled, it’s okay. If it’s not, we will hear and decide it,” the Bench had said, adding, “We do not want to shut the door to an amicable solution.”
“Try to finish it as soon as it can be. It is an execution of a decree passed by this court. It is the duty of every citizen to obey it,” Justice Ghose had said.
Amid continued standoff between Punjab and Haryana over construction of the Sutlej-SYL canal, the Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had told the top court on April 10 that it had invited both the states for negotiations to find an amicable solution to the contentious issue.
Punjab — which had in February said the canal land returned to the landowners could not be recovered — has been requesting the SC to ask the Centre to try to bring the states to the negotiating table.
The top court had in November 2016 declared the law passed by the Punjab Assembly in 2004 terminating the SYL canal water-sharing agreement with neighbouring states as unconstitutional. It had answered in the negative all four questions referred to it in a Presidential Reference.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly said it didn’t intend to revisit the facts and issues already adjudicated upon. “To my mind, the decree which has been passed has to be executed. A decree passed by the Supreme Court should not be treated like a paper decree,” Justice Ghose had said.

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