HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court, on Monday, said that neither it nor the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over settling inter-state river water disputes. A bench comprising Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Vinod Kumar made this remark while hearing a house motion petition filed on Sunday by a group of farmers from Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh, seeking the annulment of GO 34 issued by the Telangana government, which permits the generation of hydel power at its stations on the Krishna river.
The bench asked Telangana Advocate General (AG) and the petitioners to study the Apex Court order on a similar water-sharing dispute over the Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme from 2008. It also remarked that only river water tribunals have the power to adjudicate on the matter.
When the case was taken up by the bench earlier, the AG had pleaded for the transfer of the petition to another bench headed by the Chief Justice. Justice Ramachandra Rao described this as an affront on his bench.