Karnataka seeks setting up of bench in SC to deal with Krishna river water dispute

The Karnataka government Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking setting up of a bench to hear a plea relating to the dispute over the allocation of water of Krishana river, flowing in states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, after two judges recused themselves on January 10.

A bench comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud, hailing from Maharashtra, and Justice A S Bopanna, who belongs to Karnataka, had on January 10 recused from the case, arising out of the water tribunal’s decision, saying “We do not want to be the target of invectives”.

The judges, who recused themselves, were upset with the tone and tenor of mails and letters against them for being part of the bench to decide the water dispute.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submissions of senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Karnataka, and said that he will consider setting up the bench for the case.

The bench, also comprising justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli, inquired whether the parties can amicably settle the dispute.

Divan said the main issue would require adjudication from the bench itself and some of the ancillary matters may be settled.

“I am mentioning on behalf of Karnataka. There is a judicial order of January 10, 2022, passed by a bench of Justice Chandrachud and Justice Bopanna where they have directed that the papers be placed before the CJI in the administrative side for directions. They have recognised and all the counsel agreed that this ought to be listed expeditiously,” Divan said at the outset.

“We will look into this,” the CJI said.

Karnataka had sought the vacation of a November 16, 2011, order of the top court that restrained the Centre from publishing in the official gazette the final order of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal II (KWDT) pronounced in 2010, allocating the river water to Karnataka, erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The KWDT had further modified its final order and report on November 29, 2013, to allot surplus water to Karnataka, Maharashtra, and the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh while preserving the allocation of 2,130 TMC already made among them.

The publication of the tribunal order is a necessary precondition for its implementation.

However, following the bifurcation of unified Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had moved the Supreme Court challenging the KWDT’s allocation of share.

Karnataka had argued that thousands of crores of its dam and irrigation projects to provide water to its parched northern areas were stalled for all these years because of the 2011 order to not publish the KWDT decisions in the Official Gazette under Section 6(1) of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956.