Supreme Court ends Bhakra Beas power dispute, Himachal to get 11,973 million units over 20 years

The Supreme Court on Friday, 6 November 2026, closed the Bhakra Beas power dispute between Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, directing the two plains states to supply Himachal 11,973 million units of electricity over 20 years. A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana accepted the Centre’s cashless settlement in a suit that Himachal filed in 1996.

What happened in the Bhakra Beas power dispute

The dues will be paid in electricity, not money. According to ThePrint’s report on the judgment, the energy will reach Himachal over 20 consecutive lean winter seasons, the months when the state’s own hydro stations produce the least.

Himachal wanted the arrears cleared within 10 years and Punjab asked for 30, Bar and Bench reported. Attorney General R Venkataramani had recommended 15. The court settled on 20, weighing the fiscal strain on the paying states against an entitlement that has waited since 1966.

An adjustment of Rs 420 crore for the historical capital cost and debt servicing of the dams is already built into the deal, so Himachal pays nothing to its neighbours. It will pay the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) its standard annual operational charges for each tranche of energy it receives. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Himachal.

Punjab had filed objections on 24 August. It wanted 1,972 million units deducted for old concessional supplies and the arrears valued at the operation and maintenance rate of 79 paise per unit. The Bench called those objections vague and “superficial attempts to relitigate settled issues”, and said the concessional supplies were already counted in the capital liability worked out from Comptroller and Auditor General data.

Key numbers

• 11,973 million units: electricity Punjab and Haryana must supply to Himachal over 20 years (Bar and Bench).
• 13,066 million units: Himachal’s original entitlement, computed by the Central Electricity Authority, before the capital cost adjustment.
• 7.19 per cent: Himachal’s share of the power attributable to composite Punjab, upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011 (ThePrint).
• Rs 420.77 crore: Himachal’s historical capital cost liability up to 2025-26, updated with CAG loan data in February 2026.
• 1,972 million units: the deduction Punjab sought and the court refused.

Background: how the fight over Himachal power share began

The Bhakra-Nangal scheme on the Sutlej was first proposed in 1944. It submerged about 28,000 acres of the princely state of Bilaspur, and the Beas project later flooded another 65,000 acres in Kangra district.

When the Punjab Reorganisation Act split composite Punjab on 1 November 1966, Section 78 left the sharing of the projects to agreement or a Central order. Neither came. From 1967, power was divided on an ad hoc basis: Punjab 54.5 per cent, Haryana 39.5 per cent, Chandigarh 3.5 per cent and Himachal 2.5 per cent of Bhakra power.

Himachal asked for 7.19 per cent in October 1969, the share of composite Punjab’s population that moved to it, and went to the Supreme Court in 1996. In September 2011 the court rejected its claim to 12 per cent free power but upheld the 7.19 per cent share from 1966. A Centre affidavit in July 2013 put the shortfall up to October 2011 at 13,066 million units.

Mediation led by the Attorney General from 2014 failed. Venkataramani brought a fresh settlement note in September 2024, and Himachal and Haryana accepted the cashless framework at hearings in July and August 2026.

What people said

Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Friday that his government had won another major battle for the state. He estimated that, if the state sold the power at Rs 6 a unit, it would earn about Rs 500 crore a year, ETV Bharat reported.

Sukhu also said the state would press its claims for a water cess on hydro projects and for the return of the Shanan hydel project in Jogindernagar, Mandi, which Punjab runs.

What happens next: power in the lean winter seasons

The order is binding on both paying states, and the first tranche is due in the coming lean season. With the Bhakra Beas power dispute closed, the next tests are the Shanan project and the water cess, both of which Sukhu said the state will pursue in court. More on the states involved is on our India page and in the Politics and Governance section.