SC asks emergent meeting of the Upper Yamuna River Board on June 05 to resolve the Delhi water crisis and lists the matter for hearing on June 06

Today, the Supreme Court (SC) bench constituting Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice KV Viswanathan asked the Upper Yamuna River Board to hold an urgent meeting of stakeholder states to resolve the water crisis being faced by the residents of Delhi due to the scorching heatwave leading to a shortage of water in the National Capital. The vacation bench ordered, “There shall be an emergent meeting of Upper Yamuna River Board on June 5, 2024, to address the issues agitated in this petition and all other connected issues in right earnest so that problems of scarcity of water for the citizens of Delhi should be properly addressed. Post this matter on Thursday (June 6) along with the minutes of the meeting and the suggested steps.” The vacation bench passed the order while hearing the petition of the Delhi Government seeking directions to the State of Haryana to facilitate water supply to Delhi from Himachal Pradesh. During the proceedings, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta highlighted the alleged water wastage in the National Capital and asked the Delhi Government to control it. He said, “As per the figures placed before the Board, of every 100 litres of water that Delhi gets, only 48.65 litres reach the people in the Capital. 52.35% of it is lost due to leakage, tanker mafia, and theft by industrial units. The government will have to tighten it.” The SC bench remarked, “What he (SG Mehta) is saying is also right. There should not be any wastage of water. We will look into this also at a subsequent stage.” Senior Advocate AM Singhvi appeared for the Delhi Government and contended that the main goal of the Delhi government’s plea is to mitigate the water crisis with the help of additional water that Himachal Pradesh agreed to share with the national capital. After hearing the matter, the SC vacation bench asked SG Mehta to facilitate the Board meeting on June 05, 2024, to resolve the water crisis.