Water row: Punjab govt seeks review of High Court's May 6 order

May 13, 2025

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government moved an application in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a review or modification of its May 6 order pertaining to Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan's May 2 decision to release 4,500 cusecs of extra water to Haryana.

The high court had on May 6 directed Punjab to abide by the decision of the meeting held on May 2 under the chairmanship of the Union home secretary.

Mohan had on May 2 chaired a high-level meeting, which advised to carry out the Bhakra Beas Management Board's decision to release 4,500 cusecs of extra water from Bhakra dam to Haryana for the next eight days to meet the state's urgent water requirements.

In its petition, Punjab objected that the Union home secretary was not the appropriate authority to take a call on releasing water.

"Further the State of Haryana had stated during the proceedings before this court that the meeting dated 2.05.2025 was called by the Union Home Secretary as it pertained to the law and order situation. This further shows that the meeting could not have decided the issue of water allocation, especially when it stood statutorily referred to the Ministry of Power," said the petition.

The plea stated that an impression was given before the court that the meeting was held on the issue of releasing extra 4,500 cusecs of water to Haryana, but in fact there was no specific agenda for the meeting which was only in respect of the emergent issues with the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).

Furthermore, the meeting was not held as a consequence or in relation to the reference by the BBMB of the representation made by the state of Haryana.

It is an admitted fact that the home secretary was not the competent authority to take any decision under Rule 7 of the BBMB Rules and then the state of Punjab is not legally bound to comply with the said decision.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government on Monday said it has initiated legal measures against BBMB chairman Manoj Tripathi for "deliberate misrepresentation of facts" before the high court.

The Punjab government has vehemently refuted assertions of illegal detention concerning the BBMB chairman, said an official spokesperson.

"During the court proceedings on May 8, Tripathi admitted that he was only surrounded by local citizens and was assisted by Punjab Police in leaving safely. However, in a subsequent affidavit dated May 9, Tripathi contradictorily alleged that he was subjected to illegal detention, a claim directly conflicting with his prior in-court statement," claimed the spokesperson in an official statement.

Consequently, the Punjab government has invoked Section 379 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023 requesting the high court to initiate an inquiry into an offence under Section 215 of the BNSS, which pertains to the submission of a knowingly false affidavit, said the spokesperson.

Further, the state seeks the initiation of contempt of court proceedings against Tripathi and Sanjeev Kumar, Director (Water Regulation), for willful disobedience of the court's order dated May 6, said the spokesperson.

The state government clarified that the high court's May 6 order solely mandated the implementation of decisions taken during a meeting on May 2, said the spokesperson, adding the state government contends that no such decisions were ever formally communicated to either the state authorities or the BBMB chairman himself.

Despite this, Tripathi misrepresented the court's order, claiming that the court had ordered to release 8,500 cusecs of water to Haryana, thereby misleading the BBMB staff, claimed the spokesperson.

Tripathi was allegedly locked inside Nangal Dam's guest house by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers on May 8.

On the BBMB's plea, the high court had on May 6 restrained Punjab and its departments, including police personnel from "interfering" in the day-to-day functioning, operation and regulation of the Bhakra Nangal Dam and Lohand control room water regulation offices managed by the BBMB.

Punjab and Haryana are at loggerheads over the distribution of water with the AAP government refusing to share water from Bhakra dam, saying the neighbouring state has already utilized its share of water.

Punjab has claimed that Haryana has already exhausted its allocated share and 4,000 cusecs of water were already being released on humanitarian grounds.