NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant an urgent hearing on a PIL seeking declaration of the India-Pakistan Indus Water Treaty as unconstitutional.
“There is no urgency in the matter. It will come up for hearing in due course,” a bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice A M Khanwilkar said.
Advocate M L Sharma, who filed the PIL in his personal capacity on the issue, sought urgent hearing of the matter saying the treaty was unconstitutional as it was not signed as per the constitutional scheme and hence should be declared “void ab initio”.
When the petitioner advocate pressed for an early hearing, the court asked him where he was all these years.
“Keep politics aside. The matter will come in due course,” the bench said when the lawyer insisted on an urgent hearing.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a meeting on the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, where NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, Water Resources Secretary, and senior PMO officials were present.
The meeting to review the Indus Waters treaty with Pakistan came after Narendra Modi said that India would give an appropriate response to the Uri attack.
The discussion is seen as significant in the light of India-Pakistan tensions following the death of 19 soldiers in a strike at an Army camp in Uri last week.
The decision to examine the Indus treaty comes days after foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said while India did not intend to violate the 1960 treaty, “eventually any cooperative arrangement requires goodwill and mutual trust on both sides”.
The exercise also indicates that the PM might be looking for leverage other than military reprisals against Pakistan, given concerns over a conflict between the nuclear armed neighbours escalating, according to Indian media.
