Charging the Punjab Government of being in the habit of backing out of every agreement which did not favour them, Bansi said there had been several agreements on the inter-state water and territorial issues, but Punjab had always failed to implement them in letter and spirit. Stating that it did not behove of a chief minister like Badal to make such statements, Bansi Lal termed Punjab's demand of dissolving the Eradi Tribunal as ``not only unfair and unjust, but also illegal as it was contrary of the provisions of the Inter State Waters Dispute Act''.

He said that under Section 12 of the Inter State Waters Dispute Act, the CentralGovernment could dissolve the Tribunal only after it had completed its work in all respects and was satisfied that no other reference to the Tribunal in the matter was necessary. He pointed out that the Eradi Tribunal was constituted by the Centre to resolve the river water dispute between Punjab and Haryana, as a result of Rajiv-Longowal Accord signed between the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and the then president of Shiromani Akali Dal Sant Harchand Singh Longowal on July 24, 1985. Punjab had also participated in all the proceedings of the Tribunal, till its indicated the share of water of various states on January 30, 1987.

Bansi Lal added that the riparian principle was totally irrelevant in the present context, as Haryana being a successor state of the erstwhile Punjab and also a part of the Indus basin, had equal rights over the waters of Ravi-Beas rivers. Punjab could not claim exclusive rights over these waters, since the river waters were a national asset and their use could not be restrictedto the boundaries of any particular state, he added.

Meanwhile, again charging the Punjab Government of repeatedly changing its stand on the territorial issues, Bansi Lal strongly reiterated the demand for implementation of the recommendations of the Shah Commission in toto, stating that this would be the only way to resolve the matters relating to Chandigarh and other territorial issues. Bansi Lal also expressed his concern over the fact that the control of headworks at Harike, Ropar and Ferozepur had not been transferred to the Bhakra Beas Management Board by the Punjab Government for the last 32 years even though it was obliged to do so under Section 79 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.