Krishna River
New Delhi: Based on receipt of the legal opinion on the complaint filed by the Telangana Government, the Union Cabinet today approved the issue of further terms of reference to the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) for its adjudication between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The Union Cabinet made the approval under section 5(1) of the Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956. The Telangana government had raised the issue under section (3) of the said Act.
The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II was constituted by the Central Government on April 2, 2004, on requests made by the party states under Section 3 of the ISRWD Act, 1956. Subsequently, on June 2, 2014, when Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, the tenure of the KWDT-II was extended as per section 89 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act (APRA), 2014, to address the clauses (a) and (b) of the said section of APRA, 2014.
Subsequently, the Telangana government forwarded a complaint on July 14, 2014, to the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD and GR), Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, referring to the dispute on the use, distribution or control of Krishna River waters.
A writ petition was also filed in the matter by the Telangana government in the Supreme Court in 2015. In 2018, Telangana further requested DoWR, RD and GR to refer the complaint to the existing KWDT-II by confining the scope of reference between the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh only.
The matter was later discussed in the 2nd Apex Council meeting in 2020 held under the Jal Shakti Minister. As discussed during the 2nd Apex Council meeting, Telangana withdrew the Writ Petition in 2021, and, subsequently, the legal opinion of the Ministry of Law & Justice was sought by DoWR, RD & GR in the matter.
– global bihari bureau
