E-Paper
High court to re-examine boundaries of Sukhna lake catchment area
On December 18, the HC had stayed demolition and construction activity in the Sukhna catchment area. Apart from recovery of the ₹100-crore fine imposed on the governments of Punjab and Haryana, it had put in abeyance an earlier March 2020 order of a division bench with these directions.
The Punjab and Haryana high court will re-examine the boundaries of the Sukhna Lake catchment area.
On December 18, the HC had stayed demolition and construction activity in the Sukhna catchment area. Apart from recovery of the ₹100-crore fine imposed on the governments of Punjab and Haryana, it had put in abeyance an earlier March 2020 order of a division bench with these directions.
The December 18 order from the bench of justice Jaswant Singh and justice HS Sidhu had come on the plea of Kansal Enclave Residents Welfare Association, Mohali, a residents’ body, who had petitioned against the March judgment saying no consensus had been drawn regarding the veracity of the 2004 map prepared by Survey of India, as per which the court had decided the catchment area boundaries in March. Punjab also figured in the appeal.
In the detailed order released on Thursday, the court observed that the catchment area of the lake needed to be determined on the basis of scientific, technological and legal aspects. It also issued notice to Survey of India, which prepared it.
The court observed that some of the construction, in the areas which fall in the catchment area as per the 2004 map, were notified in Nayagaon’s master plan and their right to shelter, cannot be denied.
It said that in this year’s monsoon season, there was breach in the Sukhna lake area and owing to opening of flood gates, there was flooding in Baltana and Zirakpur. “ At this stage, this Court is primarily concerned with the first and foremost adjudication of the correct and accurate determination of the catchment area of Sukhna Lake on the basis of the applicable technical parameters,” it said.
Synonymous with the city, the lake was created by Le Corbusier in 1958. However by 1988, 66% of the original water holding capacity of the lake was lost due to silting. Following this, check dams were constructed in the catchment area. But the water-level has once again started going down. The man-made lake now has a capacity of around 500 hectare-metres against the original capacity of over 1,074 hectare metres. The lake’s depth is 12-13 feet. On the north side, the lake is surrounded by 26-square-kilometre wildlife sanctuary. The March order had come on a suo motu plea going on since 2009.
In March, the court had declared Sukhna as a living entity. Fine was imposed as court found that “state connived with the defaulters” in allowing construction. The chief secretaries of both states and the Chandigarh adviser were directed to constitute high-power committees to fix the responsibilities of officers who permitted large scale unauthorised construction.The court had also directed the ministry of environment and forest to notify at least 1-km area from the boundary of Sukhna Lake wildlife sanctuary as an eco-sensitive zone.
