Andhra Pradesh has objected to the new additional guidelines (Terms of Reference-TOR) issued by the Centre to the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal for water distribution among Telugu states as inappropriate. It has expressed concern that if Krishna water is distributed under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Waters Act-1956, it will cause irreparable damage.
It has asked the Supreme Court to cancel the said TOR. It has said that water allocations were made in the past based on the river basin area and current water consumption calculations, and now it is unfair to finalize the procedures for re-distributions by the Tribunal.
A bench comprising Justice Suryakant and Justice N. Kotishwar Singh heard the petition filed by AP to this extent on Wednesday. Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta presented arguments on behalf of Andhra. The central decision is unacceptable and the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal does not have the authority to examine such additional aspects under the River Water Disputes Act, he said.
There is protection for water allocations under the Bifurcation Act, and it is not appropriate to include new rules and regulations while the tribunal is already examining project-wise allocations of water between Telugu states under Section 89A and B.
He reminded that 811 TMCs were previously allocated to the joint state as part of the distribution of Krishna water between AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra. He revealed that 512 TMCs were allocated to AP and 299 TMCs to Telangana after bifurcation.
He said that it is not appropriate to finalize the procedures to examine these again from the beginning, as this will cause great injustice to AP. He clarified that the State Bifurcation Act has been passed by the Parliament and the Centre does not have the authority or right to amend it.
He said that the Bachawat Tribunal had given a verdict in 2013 on project-wise allocations to Maharashtra, Karnataka and AP, but it did not come into effect due to legal disputes. At this juncture, the Center has unilaterally issued a new ToR on water distribution between the two Telugu states, contrary to Section 89 of the State Bifurcation Act.
The bench made it clear that the next arguments will be heard on Thursday as the court’s time has expired, and if the time is not sufficient, it will be heard on another day.
