SC to Centre: Constitute Pennaiyar River Water Tribunal to Resolve Water Dispute

The Supreme Court on Wednesday gives three months time to Centre to constitute the Pennaiyar River Water Tribunal to resolve the dispute over the sharing of water between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

A bench Comprising of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar rejected the Centre’s request seeking six months to form the tribunal.
“Is government interested in constituting the tribunal? We give you a month’s time, otherwise, we will proceed with the (hearing) of the matter, the bench said

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appeared for the Central government told the court that we tried to resolve the issue through negotiation and mediation but it failed.

A cabinet note has been prepared and the same has been approved by the Minister of Jal Shakti, Bhati told the bench.

A cabinet note has been circulated to Union Home Ministry, Finance Ministry, Law and Justice Ministry and the Prime Minister’s office for comments and observations and it will take two weeks’ time, Bhati told the bench. Thereafter the final note will be placed before the cabinet for approval, she added.

The Parliament is in session, and the cabinet meeting can be called anytime. “Everything can be done in 24 hours”, the bench observed. Additional Solicitor pleaded for some more time to constitute tribunal. After repeatedly request of Additional Solicitor, the Bench allows three months.

The Tamil Nadu government had approached the top court on 18 May, 2018, seeking a directive to the Centre to set up a tribunal.