By Admin 
Expressing concern over the drying up of Chandigarh’s iconic lake as a result of the collusion between the builder mafia and bureaucrats, Chief Justice Justice Surya Kant on Wednesday (January 21, 2026) remarked that how much more will Sukhna Lake be dried.
The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi was hearing interim applications filed in the PIL ‘In Re: TN Godavarman Thirumulpad’ pending in 1995.
Chief Justice Surya Kant, on mentioning the petition related to the lake by an advocate, made a verbal comment, ‘And how much will you dry up Sukhna Lake? Illegal constructions are taking place in Punjab with the support of political parties and connivance of bureaucrats, as a result of which the lake is being completely destroyed. All the builder mafias are active there.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had expressed surprise as to why all the cases related to forests and lakes were coming to the Supreme Court bypassing the High Courts, that too in the form of interim applications in the pending PIL of 1995. At the beginning of the hearing, the bench expressed surprise as to why all forest related cases were coming to this court?
Referring to an application related to the Sukhna Lake issue, the Chief Justice had said that it clearly appears that friendly competition is going on at the behest of some private developers and others.
The bench had asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, and senior advocate K Parameshwar, who was acting as amicus curiae in the forest case, to provide information about the local issues which the High Court itself can deal with.
The litigation related to Chandigarh’s Sukhna Lake is primarily related to the High Court’s efforts to protect its catchment area from encroachment, which in 2020 had ordered the demolition of structures built in the protected area.
Also read:-
‘We will destroy you within a few hours and bring you to your knees…’, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh’s strict warning to Pakistan!