BHUBANESWAR/NEW DELHI: In a major boost to the State, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to constitute a tribunal within a month to resolve Mahanadi water sharing dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
A bench of Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao rejected the arguments of the Centre that there was no need for an exclusive tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi river water sharing dispute and directed the Centre to begin the process for constitution of a tribunal within a month.
During the hearing on the day, the apex court heard the plea of Odisha Government for constitution of a tribunal to resolve the inter-State Mahanadi river water sharing dispute with Chhattisgarh. While the Centre submitted that there is an obligatory legal binding on Odisha for constituting the Joint Control Board (JCB) and Chhattisgarh took the same plea, Odisha strongly argued against it saying the board does not have any dispute resolution mechanism.
After arguments continued for almost an hour, the apex court proposed whether Odisha and Chhattisgarh agreed to the proposition of Union Minister of Water Resources for attending the negotiation meeting. However, senior advocate for Odisha Mukul Rohatgi categorically denied it saying sufficient time has passed since the dispute arose and all such negotiations and meetings held in the past has not borne any result.
After having heard all the parties, the SC directed Centre to constitute the tribunal subject to the withdrawal of the suit by Odisha which was accepted Rohatgi. The apex court said both the States have the liberty to plead their issues before the tribunal.
Welcoming the apex court’s direction, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said this will go a long way in protecting the interests of the people of Odisha, especially the farmers. “Today our stand has been vindicated,” he said.
The Supreme Court’s direction has come at a time when the Centre has consistently overlooked the demand of the Odisha Government to constitute the tribunal for the last one year. In December last year, the SC had pulled up the Centre for not constituting a tribunal after receiving the application from the State Government within the stipulated time of one year.
In an affidavit filed last year, the Centre had opposed the constitution of the tribunal but the court directed for a tribunal as per 4(1) of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act (1956). Odisha Government has alleged that the Chhattisgarh Government was violating a 1983 treaty on Mahanadi water by constructing unauthorised dams and barrages for the last couple of years. Negotiations at the level of chief ministers attended by Naveen Patnaik, Raman Singh and then Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on September 17, 2016 and meeting between the chief secretaries before that had failed to find a solution.
Despite assurances in both Houses of Parliament, the Centre had advised the Odisha to negotiate with Chhattisgarh to resolve the dispute. Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari, while replying to a question in Lok Sabha in first week of January, advised Odisha to come back to negotiation table to resolve the issue. He also wrote a letter to Naveen but Odisha rejected his suggestion.
The State Government had filed an application with the Centre on November 19, 2016 to form a tribunal. Naveen also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that Chhattisgarh stops all construction of barrages and dams on Mahanadi river.
Odisha also filed an original suit in the Supreme Court under Article 131 of the Constitution on December 2, 2016 seeking an injunction on Chhattisgarh from continuing with construction of ongoing projects and taking up new projects.
Official sources maintained that while Chhattisgarh has constructed six barrages over Mahanadi, it has plans to construct 13 more dams and barrages in future.