Today, the Supreme Court postponed the hearing of the Delhi Government's petition concerning the water crisis, citing unresolved defects in the petition copy as the reason for the adjournment.

A vacation bench consisting of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Prasanna B Varale stated that they preferred to review the files first to avoid being influenced by media coverage of the case.

"List it day after tomorrow (June 12) so all the reports etc are on record. We also want to read the file. There is so much reporting in media and if we do not read files then the media reports can impress us and that is not a good thing", Justice Mishra said.

On June 6, the Court instructed the Himachal Pradesh Government to transfer 137 cusecs of water to the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana. It also directed the Haryana Government to facilitate the transfer of the surplus water received from Himachal Pradesh to Delhi via the Wazirabad barrage. Additionally, the Court ordered the Upper Yamuna River Board to submit a status report on the measures taken for the onward supply of water released from Himachal Pradesh to Delhi.

While presenting the status report on behalf of the State of Haryana, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan informed the Court today that the petitioner's counsels have not rectified the defect in the petition copy.

“Defects were pointed out last week and still defects not been removed. You cannot take this court for a ride. Let the office verify that you removed the defects and if you did not then let the petition be dismissed. It will be dismissed.”, Justice Mishra warned the Delhi Government's Counsel.

The Delhi Government's counsel assured the Court that steps would be taken to rectify the defects. For more details on the case, you can access the background information here.

Case Title: GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI Versus STATE OF HARYANA AND ORS., Diary No. 25504-2024