Supreme Court schedules Delhi government's plea seeking water from Haryana on June 6

The Supreme Court on Monday posted the plea of Delhi government seeking additional water from neighbouring Haryana on June 6 for hearing.

The bench of Justices Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan Sai asked Upper Yamuna River Board to hold an emergency meeting on June 5, of all stakeholder States to resolve the water crisis faced by the residents of Delhi. It also ordered the board to submit the minutes of the meeting.

The petition was filed by Delhi's Water Minister Atishi. The plea included the Centre, BJP-governed Haryana, and Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, emphasising that water access is crucial for survival and a fundamental human right.



"Access to water is one of the basic human rights of an individual. Not only is water essential for sustenance, but access to water also forms an essential component of the guarantee of dignity and a quality of life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution," the plea said.

"The current water crisis, which may only get worse given peak summers and ongoing water shortage, violates the right to a dignified and quality life of the people of the NCT of Delhi, who are unable to access even adequate clean drinking water," it added.

Atishi had written to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana officials seeking release of additional water for a month as parts of the national capital reels from a water crisis.

Atishi wrote to UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini seeking more water as the city reels from a 50 degrees Celsius-strong heatwave till the arrival of monsoon.

"As you must be aware, Delhi is facing one of the worst water crisis this year. Unlike the previous years, demand for water has gone up by many folds. In order to tackle the existing crisis, we urgently need to release additional water into the Yamuna river at the earliest," Atishi wrote in her letter.