Supreme Court finally settles Himachal Pradesh's 30-year claim over Bhakra-Beas hydel power

Deciding an Original Suit filed in 1996 under Article 131 of the Constitution, which gives the Supreme Court exclusive original jurisdiction over disputes between the Union and the States, a three-judge Bench led by the Chief Justice brought to a close Himachal Pradesh's claim to a share in the power generated by the Bhakra-Nangal and Beas hydel projects. The projects submerged tens of thousands of acres of land that is now part of Himachal Pradesh, but their power was enjoyed by the composite State of Punjab and, after the 1966 reorganisation under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, by Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Section 78 of the 1966 Act apportioned the erstwhile Punjab's rights and liabilities in the two projects among the successor States, and in 2011 the Court had already decreed Himachal Pradesh's entitlement at 7.19% of the power generated.

The dispute that followed concerned how that decree was to be implemented. The Court has now fixed the energy arrears due to Himachal Pradesh at 13,066 million units, to be supplied by Punjab and Haryana over 20 lean seasons, after adjusting the State's own Rs. 420.77 crore share of the two projects' capital cost against part of those arrears. The directions, the Court held, are binding and must be implemented without reservation, bringing a three-decade-old suit to a final quietus.