Haryana has filed a fresh application in the Supreme Court seeking to restrain Punjab from going ahead with executing the Shahpur Kandi dam project on the Ravi river. A Bench comprising Justices TS Thakur and Gyan Sudha Misra allowed six weeks to the Centre to respond to Haryana’s plea after Additional Solicitor-General Mohan Jain pleaded for adequate time for the purpose. The case would be taken up again on February 11, 2013. In the application, Haryana has also pleaded that the Centre should stop releasing further funds for the dam project and implement it either on its own or through the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) or such other agency. The SC has already issued notice to Punjab and BBMB on Haryana’s original suit on the issue. In the 2009 suit, Haryana has opposed Punjab’s control over the Shahpur Kandi dam, Madhopur headworks and Thein Dam/Ranjit Sagar Project. The apex court had also sought the responses of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and the union ministries of water resources and power. According to Haryana, Punjab building the Shahpur Kandi dam, the third on river Ravi, would further reduce the flow of water downstream, affecting the lower riparian states. Punjab was going ahead with the work without the consent of Haryana and other states that would be affected, Haryana has contended. Haryana has pleaded in the suit that these three projects should be handed over to the BBMB for administration, maintenance and operation for all purposes such as regulation of releases protecting the interests of all the partner states — HP, J and K, Rajasthan and Haryana. The state has also sought a decree declaring that Haryana is entitled to share power from the Anandpur Sahib Hydel Project, Kukerian Hydel Project, Thein Dam, UBDC Stage-II and Shahpur Kandi hydel scheme, in proportion to its share in the waters. Haryana should be given a legal right to the legal documents, records and data relating to the release patterns of the three projects. The state also wants to have information, data, project reports and other details such as the detailed project report (DPR) relating to these projects so that it could have a say in such matters. Work on the Shahpur Kandi dam should commence only after this exercise is completed. According to Punjab, it has spent Rs 190 crore on the Rs 2,200 crore Shahpur Kandi dam. According to J and K, the project is supposed to come up under an agreement reached with it more than 12 years ago on the condition that it would get a share of the power generated from it. So, it is also opposed to allowing the project to be set up solely by Punjab.