Will not disrupt Yamuna water supply to Delhi, Haryana tells SC
New Delhi, May 11: The Haryana government on Friday assured the Supreme Court that it will not disrupt the supply of Yamuna river water to Delhi till the court decides on water-sharing dispute between the two.
A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta asked the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) to apprise it of a decision/suggestion on Delhi's water requirement and file a report by Monday.
The court also slammed the board, saying the problems regarding sharing of water between states must be first taken care of by bodies like the UYRB and not the Supreme Court.
"Is not there one Upper Yamuna River Board or something? What are they doing? Why don't they want to do their job. If they do not want to do their job, why should we do their job?" Justice Lokur asked.
The Centre set up the the board primarily to regulate allocation of available water among five beneficiary basin states and also for monitoring the return flow.
The apex corut posted the matter for May 16.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) against a daily shortfall of 120 cusecs of water from the Yamuna.
The DJB had sought instructions to Haryana to supply 450 cusecs of potable water daily to Delhi, as agreed between the two states. Haryana was supplying to Delhi only 330 cusecs of water daily as against 450 cusec per day, the DJB petition said.
During the hearing, the Haryana government told the court that it has not reduced water supply to Delhi even though availability of the Yamuna water at Tajewala was down to about 56 per cent of the normal expected quantity during the first four months of 2018.
"On an average, 2,289 cusecs of water was received at Tajewala from January 1 to April 30, as against 4,081 cusecs estimated by the UYRB for the purpose of making tentative distribution," said Haryana's affidavit.
But the DJB now wants additional supplies of about 120 cusecs, which is totally unjustified, it added.
The state had earlier told the bench that it was receiving only 50 per cent water from the Hathni barrage and there is a "huge distress" of water level in Haryana.
With Delhi facing water shortage, the DJB had moved the Supreme Court for directions to Haryana to release adequate water to the Wazirabad reservoir, alleging that Yamuna water supply had been reduced by one third.
"Delhi is in the midst of an acute water crisis owing to stop in supply of water by Haryana into the Yamuna, which is meant for drinking purposes in Delhi," the DJB plea said.
The DJB's water treatment plants have been functioning below capacities over the past few weeks due to a drop in Yamuna water level and release of polluted water from Haryana that could not be treated, it added.
Yamuna water sharing between Delhi and Haryana has been a contentious issue for decades and the apex court had ordered Haryana to release 450 cusecs of water daily to Delhi in February 1996.
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Tahawwur Rana being brought to India in special flight: Sources
New Delhi, Apr 9 (PTI): Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana is likely to be brought to India in a special flight on Thursday after all hurdles for his extradition were removed by the US, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, was lodged in the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles.
A multi-agency team has gone to the US and all paperwork and legal issues are being completed with US authorities to bring him to India, they said.
Rana is being brought to India after his last-ditch attempt to evade extradition failed as the US Supreme Court justices rejected his application.
"You are all aware that the US Supreme Court has rejected his plea. As far as extradition of Rana is concerned, at this point, I do not have an update," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
"We will provide you an update at an appropriate time," he said while replying to a question during his weekly media briefing.
Rana is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks.
On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went into a rampage, carrying out a coordinated attack on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, after they sneaked into India's financial capital using the sea route in the Arabian Sea.
As many as 166 people were killed in the nearly 60-hour assault that sent shockwaves across the country and even brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.
In November 2012, Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman among the Pakistani group, was hanged to death in Yerawada Jail in Pune.
At a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House in February, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of a "very evil" man "to face justice" in India.
In his emergency application, Rana had sought a "stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13 petition."
In that petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violates United States law and the United Nations Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
