Chandigarh, Sept 21: Moving to protect its claimed entitlement to Yamuna river flows, Punjab is preparing to approach the Supreme Court to contest the continuation of the Kishau Multipurpose Project. The legal strategy, finalized following consultation with senior legal experts, seeks to ensure that basin decisions are not concluded while Punjab’s representation remains pending before central authorities.
Six participant states — Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh — recently executed an accord to push forward the 422 MW hydro and storage facility on the Tons river. The venture envisions a massive 1,562 million cubic metre reservoir serving multiple regional water and energy needs.
However, state officials argue that proceeding under the existing framework overlooks foundational rights. Punjab previously filed a complaint with the Union Government on April 25 last year under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1957, asking for an adjudication tribunal. With no formal action taken on that reference, the state has turned toward direct judicial remedy.
Central to Punjab’s contention is the assertion that the 1994 Yamuna MoU cannot be viewed as a final arrangement, particularly as Clause 8 opens the framework to a post-2025 review. “In 1954, Punjab was entitled to two-thirds of the Yamuna waters, but under the 1994 arrangement, the state was completely ignored,” an official observed, noting that the 1972 Irrigation Commission Report explicitly placed Punjab within the Yamuna basin. “The allocation should now be reviewed and Punjab should get its legitimate share,” the official asserted.
The state government points to the pre-reorganisation system, where the Yamuna formed an integral part of the broader regional hydrology alongside the Ravi and Beas rivers. Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has frequently asserted that the legal basis used to allocate Ravi and Beas waters to non-riparian successor states must equally entitle Punjab to a share of the Yamuna.
“If Haryana, despite not being a riparian state of the Ravi and the Beas, can receive their waters as a successor state, Punjab should similarly be considered a successor state for the purpose of the Yamuna waters,” the official maintained, stressing that water allocation policy requires a consistent and balanced framework across all concerned borders.
