Decrees passed by court can’t be flouted, warns SC

Decrees passed in the Sutlej- Yamuna Link (SYL) canal dispute between Punjab and Haryana cannot be flouted, the Supreme Court warned today, directing both the states to strictly implement its orders.

“We will not allow the decree passed by this court to be flouted and it has to be implemented. How the decree is being implemented is the headache of the concerned parties,” a bench of justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy said. The bench, which asked the Centre and Punjab to file their replies to Haryana’s plea seeking compliance of court’s order, said the interim order of status quo will continue.

The apex court said the reports of Union Home Secretary, Chief Secretary of Punjab and Director General of Police of Punjab, who were appointed as court receivers of the land and other properties of the canal, have indicated that status quo has been maintained. However, senior advocate Jagdeep Dhankar, appearing for Haryana, objected to a finding of the Union Home Secretary and said the report says that on site visit by the committee “no deliberate damage” has been done. “I have a problem with the word ‘deliberate’ used in the report,” he said.