The Supreme Court on Friday ordered Delhi Jal Board to approach the Upper Yamuna River Board and make a representation relating to the amount of water which is not sufficient to Delhi.
A three-judge bench of Justice Nageshwara Rao, Justice A.S. Bopanna and Justice V. Ramasubramanian was hearing the plea of Delhi Jal board regarding the shortage of water amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The court also ordered that the Upper Yamuna River Board should hear the matter expeditiously. The bench mentioned that they haven’t expressed any opinion on the merits of matter.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Delhi Jal Board submitted that Delhi requires 1100 cusecs of water for its 2 crore population. The national capital, also hit hard by Covid-19 pandemic, therefore requires more water in the hospitals.
But the bench told Singh to approach and make representation to the Upper Yamuna River Board. To which Mr. Vikas Singh submitted that the board is toothless and they will not be able to decide the matter in time.
The three-judge bench were not inclined to change their order and directed that Delhi jal board should make representation before the Upper Yamuna River Board and thereafter, closed the all the I.As and Writ petition related to this matter.
The application for requirement of more water was filed by Delhi Jal Board stating that, “If the water supply situation does not improve, it may have to restrict the supply of water to hospitals in Delhi, which are at present overwhelmed by the massive number of Covid-19 cases.”
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The application was filed in the writ petition whereby the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has stated that it is facing a critical shortage of water supply from Haryana and Punjab.