BHUBANESWAR: Even as Odisha stepped up its demand for formation of a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi river water dispute with Chhattisgarh, Union Minister for Law Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday said both the States should try to reach a consensus on the issue through discussion.“Both the States should try to solve the dispute through discussion. If it is not possible even after that, legal process will be followed,” Prasad told mediapersons. Prasad was here to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal building at Cuttack.
The State Government has been demanding formation of a tribunal for resolving the issue with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik writing two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 7 and 17 in this regard. The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has also strongly criticised the Centre for delaying the formation of the tribunal.“The Centre is deliberately delaying the formation of the tribunal to allow Chhattisgarh to complete construction of dams and barrages on river Mahanadi,” Rajya Sabha member and BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said.
In his November 17 letter, Naveen had sought personal intervention of the Prime Minister for issuing a directive for formation of the tribunal within the stipulated timeline for early adjudication of the water dispute.The Chief Minister had drawn his attention to the provision in section 4(1) of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 which mandates that if the Centre is of the opinion that the water dispute cannot be solved through negotiations, it will constitute a tribunal within a period not exceeding one year from the date of receipt of such request by notification in the official gazette.
“Therefore, the Central Government is supposed to constitute the tribunal before November 19, 2017 as my government had filed the statutory complaint on November 19, 2016,” he said.Meanwhile, the State unit of Samajwadi Party has advised the Chief Minister to file a contempt of court case against the Centre as it has gone back on its commitment to the Supreme Court and does not respect the Act for formation of the tribunal. In a letter to the Chief Minister, State unit president of Samajwadi Party Rabi Behera said such action of the Centre is against the interest of Odisha.