Supreme Court Orders Urgent Meeting of Upper Yamuna River Board to Address Delhi's Water Crisis - 2024-06-03

The Supreme Court has directed the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) to convene an emergent meeting on June 5 to address the water scarcity issue in Delhi. The court was considering a plea filed by the Delhi government, requesting Haryana to release the surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh to the national capital to alleviate the ongoing water crisis. During the hearing, a vacation bench consisting of Justices P.K. Mishra and K.V. Viswanathan observed that the advocates representing the Centre and the governments of Delhi, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh have agreed to hold a meeting of the UYRB to tackle the water scarcity problem in Delhi. The bench emphasized, "In the course of hearing, all the parties agreed that there should be a non-adversarial approach to the problem of scarcity of water faced by the citizens of Delhi." The court further stated that the lawyers have "agreed that there shall be an emergent meeting of the Upper Yamuna River Board on June 5 to address the issues agitated in this petition and all other connected issues in right earnest so that the problem of scarcity of water for the citizens of Delhi shall be properly addressed." The bench instructed that the matter be listed for hearing on June 6, along with the minutes of the board meeting and the proposed measures to be taken by the stakeholders to resolve the issue. The petition, filed by Delhi's Water Minister Atishi, has named the Centre, the BJP-governed Haryana, and the Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh as parties to the case. The plea asserts that access to water is crucial for survival and is a fundamental human right. It seeks a direction to the Haryana government to immediately and continuously release water at the Wazirabad barrage, including the full surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh for the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.