Supreme Court slams AAP govt over failure to control tanker mafia amid Delhi water crisis

The Supreme Court on June 12 rebuked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for its failure to control the operation of tanker mafia amid acute water shortage in the national capital.

A vacation bench, comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Prasanna B Varale, has said if the Delhi government can't deal with the tanker mafia, it will ask the Delhi police to take action.

The top court also asked the Delhi government to file an affidavit mentioning measures they had taken to prevent the wastage of water while observing that false statements had been made before.

“If you are not taking action, then we will hand it over to Delhi Police to take action against the tanker mafia,” the Bench said.

"There is so much spillage…the tanker mafia is there. People are suffering. We are seeing this in all channels. You are not doing anything. It’s a recurring problem every summer. What have you done to prevent water wastage?... Have you taken any action or (filed) FIRs against the tanker mafia? Tanker mafias get water and pipelines are running dry," it said.

Earlier, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had pointed out that 52.35% of water in Delhi either went to waste or was stolen by the water tanker mafia, which left just 47.65% water for Delhiites. The matter has been posted for June 13.

The Bench also noted that the affidavits in support of the Delhi government’s petition were filed by Delhi Water Minister Atishi and not Delhi Jal Board officials which was the norm.

On June 10, the apex court took strong exception to the Delhi government's failure to remove certain defects in its petition seeking a direction to the Haryana government to release surplus water provided by Himachal Pradesh to deal with the water crisis in the national capital.

Meanwhile, AAP has been continuously alleging that Haryana is not releasing Delhi's share of water into the Yamuna River, which has led to this extreme situation.

AAP had also staged a demonstration at Haryana Bhawan on June 12. Delhi has been grappling with a water crisis for the past month as the city is witnessing acute water shortages in many areas of Delhi. In areas of Delhi where water was available twice a day, it is only being provided once a day.