NEW DELHI: The Union government is likely to appoint Supreme Court judge Vineet Saran, who is retiring on May 10, as the next chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC). He is already chairman of the Ravi Beas water tribunal that is dealing with the knotty Sutlej-Yamuna link canal project.
The term of the present CWC chairman, Dr R K Gupta, is coming to an end soon and Justice Saran will take over from him, according to highly placed sources.
The CWC is primarily responsible for the control, conservation and utilisation of water throughout the country, and works for the resolution of disputes over sharing of water between states.
Resolving inter-state water disputes is one of the critical functions of the CWC. All major river basins are of inter-state nature.
When one state builds a dam on an inter-state river, it affects interests of the other basin states.
This leads to inter-state differences with regard to use, distribution and control of river water. India has seen as many as nine major Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunals so far. Water is a contentious subject and CWC plays a critical role in resolving disputes arising over it.
However, water disputes resolution is only one of over a dozen other important responsibilities of the CWC. The Union government hopes to be able to build rules and protocols with the help of Justice Saran’s legal expertise to avoid future disputes.
Justice Saran would bring to the CWC 40 years of experience in dealing with disputes and upholding the rule of law.
He practised law in the Allahabad High Court from 1980 till 2002 on the constitutional, civil and criminal sides, before being appointed as a permanent judge in the Allahabad High Court on February 14, 2002, where he served for 13 years.
He was then transferred to the Karnataka High Court on February 16, 2015 from where he was promoted as the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court on February 26, 2016.
He was elevated to the Supreme Court in August 2018.