New Delhi, July 22
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam today sought the Supreme Court’s opinion on the Punjab Government’s decision to abrogate all water-sharing treaties with its neighbouring states after the Union government sought a Presidential reference on this issue under Article 143 of the Constitution.

The Chief Justice has now to place the matter before a constitutional bench for its opinion.

The Centre decided to exercise the option of a Presidential reference after mulling over it for 10 days and discussing it at length in the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA). It was left with little choice but to take such a step as the aggrieved state governments of Haryana and Rajasthan refused to challenge the Punjab government’s decision in the Supreme Court.

Highly placed government sources said the Centre had raised two vital issues in this Presidential reference.

Drawing attention to the Punjab government’s move to terminate its water-sharing accords with neighbouring states, the Presidential reference has sought the Supreme Court’s opinion on whether this Act is creating a legal impediment for the Centre in complying with the apex court’s June 4 directive in the ongoing SYL canal case.

It has also sought opinion on whether the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act is Constitutionally valid and whether it is creating problems for the Centre and the states, party to the water-sharing agreements, which now stand nullified by this Act.

The Congress-led UPA government has been in a bind ever since Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh scrapped the state’s water-sharing treaties unilaterally to circumvent a Supreme Court order asking the Centre to speed up work on the SYL canal construction. The apex court had asked the Centre to identify an agency to undertake construction on the incomplete portion of the SYL canal, set up a committee to monitor the work and ensure that the incomplete portion is handed over to the agency by June 15.

The Union government had complied with two of these directions but was unable to follow up on the third in view of the Punjab Act. The Centre has already moved the Supreme Court and sought fresh directions in this case but, at the same, time it has also asked the affected state governments of Haryana and Rajasthan to challenge the Punjab decision.

The two opposition chief ministers, O.P. Chautala and Vasundhara Raje however, refused to do so, primarily because of political considerations. Neither of them wanted to bail out the Centre and instead wanted the Manmohan Singh government to resolve the issue. On its part, the Centre would have preferred if the affected state governments had taken the initiative. By going in for a Presidential reference, the Centre will be seen to be on a path of confrontation with the Punjab government, which it wanted to avoid.