HYDERABAD : The Brijesh Kumar Tribunal on Monday directed Andhra Pradesh to submit State of Case (SoC) by April 29. The Tribunal posted the next hearing from May 15 to 17.
Though AP sought time till the end of June to file the SoC, the tribunal refused the same and directed the state to file a statement before April 29 in a case relating to giving additional terms of reference to the tribunal under Section 3 of Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.
Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-2 chairman Justice Brijesh Kumar, members Justice Ram Mohan Reddy and Justice S Talapatra heard the arguments on Monday in Delhi.
On behalf of Telangana, CS Vaidyanathan and on behalf of Andhra Pradesh Jayadeep Guptha submitted the arguments.
Telangana submitted its Statement of Case (SoC) on March 20, 2023 as per the time limit stipulated by the KWDT-2. However, Andhra Pradesh did not submit it by that date and on April 4, 2024 AP submitted Interim Application (IA) for extension of time till June end. Telangana filed a counter to AP’s IA on March 5. Hearings on the IA of AP took place on Monday.
The main argument of AP was that since the model code of conduct came into force from April 16, they could not file the SoC which declares policy decisions. And as such they could not file it in stipulated time and sought time till June end when election results would be declared.
Telangana vehemently opposed it stating that it was only a delaying tactic. They were aware of the elections as early as late December 2023/early January 2024, Telangana said. Evidence was produced from AP government orders and Election Commission of India proceedings. The code of conduct does not bar filing pleadings in pending cases and even TS is facing Lok Sabha elections but has not violated the Code of Conduct by filing its SoC. When AP asked for treating this as a last chance, TS stated that AP had asked for a last chance last time which expired on March 20, 2024.