New Delhi, October 5
In a bid to get the Hansi-Butana canal controversy resolved by the Centre Water Commission (CWC), the Supreme Court today directed Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan to place their viewpoints before the panel within a week to determine whether the feeder channel being built by Haryana could be linked to the Bhakra Main Line (BML).

The CWC was directed to submit a report by November 12 on its findings to the court to enable it to proceed further with the suits filed by Punjab and Rajasthan for restraining Haryana from constructing the feeder channel.

A Bench of Chief Justice K.G.Balakrishnan and R.V.Raveenderan sent the matter for assessment by the CWC after the allegations by Punjab’s counsel Harish Salve and Rupinder Singh Suri that Haryana had gone ahead with the construction of feeder channel without clearance from the commission.

The court further said that till next hearing, status quo be maintained, which means that Haryana would not puncture the BML to link the feeder canal with it. It earlier had restrained Haryana from puncturing the BML.

The court also made it clear that it would not go into any issue relating to water-sharing dispute among the three states and would confine the hearing to the questions raised in the suits whether the construction of feeder channel by Haryana was as per the law and did not violate the rights of the other two states.

Haryana’s counsel Shanti Bhushan, on the other hand, claimed that the project, 80 per cent work of which was already complete, had been approved by the CWC.

He sought the court's direction for stopping of the water flow in the BML to enable Haryana to rupture it for linking the feeder channel to carry water for irrigating southern parts of the state.

Haryana’s counsel said the water flow in the BML could either be stopped in October or April when demand for irrigation by farmers is negligible.

He said the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) had also sought to close the BML between October 10 and 14 for repairing of a bridge over it and the Haryana government wanted to take advantage of the situation to rupture the canal and install the sluice-gates.

The Haryana’s lawyer, however, said that the state would not release water in the feeder canal from the BML till the court has permitted it.

As Rajasthan’s counsel K.K.Venugopal said that by linking the feeder channel by Haryana with the BML, its share of water will go down from 0.90 MAF to 0.72 MAF, the court said it would not go into any such issue.