Interstate river water disputes in India

Interstate river water disputes in India

Interstate River water sharing disputes is accelerating in India. River water disputes within the country is more common in peninsula component than Himalayan.

As rivers crossing more than one states to become interstate rivers. The water is a state subject under the 7th schedule (list 2), entry 17 of Indian Constitution as water is being used by state for agriculture through canal irrigation development ,hydro power generation and water storage for drinking and industrial useage. Since river  water has a development role every state want to capitalise more and more on it.

Even though, demand for water is increasing due to:

--- to extend the irrigation area, to increase the agricultural production and productivity ,to make agriculture cycle free from monsoon, commercialisation of agriculture, useage of more fertiliser and HYV seeds.

--- to increase farm income, ensuring regional development by removing poverty and backwardness, rural development

---- to address the issues of drought affected areas, vulnerabilities to their people, to improve ecology and environment,

--- increasing population is increasing the rate of urbanisation and commercialisation which further increasing domestic and industrial demand for water.

But, water supplies is shrinking due to:

--- overconsumption, wastage, contamination, pollution of river water,

---- less water storage structure such as dams, reservoirs and barrages leading to more than 80% rain water remain unused and goes to sea without use.

---- faulty agricultural practices leads to overexploitation of water resources

--- climate change and global warming is changing weather patterns, rainfall pattern, extreme weather events , floods and droughts, thus decreasing water availability.

--- uneven distribution of water resources both temporal and spatial.

--- lack of infrastructure to divert water to canals, to deficit basins,etc

--- mismanagement of water resources

--- incompletion of projects ,etc.,

Water crisis is deepening due to widening gap between demand and supply of water resources in all the states of India. Under this scenario other factors are complicating the water sharing agreement among the states are :

-- political  ( vote bank politics, appealing )

-- economic

--- environmental

--- social

--- technical

many disputes and disagreement  is being arising or already arised due to deeping of water crisis such as

The details of the Tribunals set up so far by the Government to settle water disputes among the States under the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956 are as under:-

Present Status

1. Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh & Odisha April, 1969

Award given on July, 1980

2. Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal -I

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,

April, 1969 Award given on May, 1976

3.Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra October, 1969 Award given on December, 1979

4.Ravi & Beas Water Tribunal Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan April, 1986 Report and decision under section 5(2) given in April, 1987. A Presidential Reference in the matter is before Supreme Court and as such the matter is sub-judice.

5. Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal

Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puduchery June, 1990 Report and decision given on 5.2.2007 which was published vide Notification dated 19.2.2013. Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by party States in Hon’ble Supreme Court, as such the matter is sub-judice.

6.Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal -II

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra

April, 2004 Report and decision given on 30.12. 2010. Further report given by the Tribunal on 29.11.2013.  Term of the Tribunal has been extended for two year w.e.f. 1stAugust, 2014 to address the terms of reference as contained in section 89 of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. However, as per Supreme Court Order dated 16.9.2011, till further order, decision taken by the Tribunal on references filed by States and Central Government shall not be published in the official Gazette. As such, matter is sub-judice.

7. Vansadhara Water Disputes Tribunal

Andhra Pradesh & Odisha February, 2010. Besides, Hon’bleVansadhara Water Disputes Tribunal in its Order dated 17.12.2013 has directed to constitute a 3-member Protem Supervisory Flow Management and Regulation Committee on River Vansadhara to implement its Order.The Vamsadhara tribunal pronounced its final verdict in September 2017 and permitted AP state to construct the side weir at Katragedda and Neradi barrage.

8. Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal

Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra November, 2010 Report and Decision not given by the Tribunal.

9. Mahanadi water dispute tribunal  established in March 2018, on the direction of Supreme Court to adjudicate water sharing dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh states.

                

  other 3 interstate river disputes is pending in centre and still it's tribunal not constituted . They are follows :--

1. Polavaram (Indira sagar) dam  in Andhra Pradesh is being disputed with Odisha , since it is submerging tribal areas .

2. Bhabali barrage on Godavari river is being constructed by Maharashtra is objected by Andhra Pradesh since, it is submerging the  Pochampad Project (Sriramsagar Project) in violation of the Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal (GWDT) award dated 7.07.1980.

3. Mulla Periyar Dam in Tamil Nadu. The dispute here is basically about safety of an over 120 year-old dam, which if it beaches, will affect Kerala, when all the benefits are going to Tamil Nadu. Kerala, is demanding the dismantling of the dam

River(s)	States
Krishna	Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka
Godavari	Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha
Narmada	Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra
Cauvery	Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Pondicherry
Krishna	Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra
Mandovi/Mahadayi/	Goa, Karnataka and Mahasrashtra
Ravi Beas mahanadi Vansadhara	Punjab,Haryana ,Rajasthan  and himachal pradesh Odisha and Chattishgarh Andhra Pradesh & Odisha

Lok Sabha has passed the Inter-State River Water disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

The Bill seeks to amend the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 with a view to streamline the adjudication of inter-state river water disputes and make the present institutional architecture robust.

Features of the bill:

Disputes Resolution Committee: The Bill requires the central government to set up a Disputes Resolution Committee (DRC), for resolving any inter-state water dispute amicably. The DRC will get a period of one year, extendable by six months, to submit its report to the central government.

Members of DRC: Members of the DRC will be from relevant fields, as deemed fit by the central government.

Tribunal: The Bill proposes to set up an Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunal, for adjudication of water disputes, if a dispute is not resolved through the DRC.  This tribunal can have multiple benches. All existing tribunals will be dissolved and the water disputes pending adjudication before such existing tribunals will be transferred to this newly formed tribunal.

Composition of the Tribunal: The tribunal shall consist of a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, and not more than six nominated members (judges of the Supreme Court or of a High Court), nominated by the Chief Justice of India. 

Drawbacks of interstate Water Dispute Act, 1956:

The Inter State Water Dispute Act, 1956 which provides the legal framework to address such disputes suffers from many drawbacks as it does not fix any time limit for resolving river water disputes.

Delays are on account of no time limit for adjudication by a Tribunal, no upper age limit for the Chairman or the Members, work getting stalled due to occurrence of any vacancy and no time limit for publishing the report of the Tribunal.

The River Boards Act 1956, which is supposed to facilitate inter-state collaboration over water resource development, remained a ‘dead letter’ since its enactment.

Surface water is controlled by Central Water Commission (CWC) and ground water by Central Ground Water Board of India (CGWB). Both bodies work independently and there is no common forum for common discussion with state governments on water management.

Way forward:

The Centre’s proposal to set up a single, permanent tribunal to adjudicate on inter-state river water disputes could be a major step towards streamlining the dispute redressal mechanism.

However, this alone will not be able to address the different kinds of problems—legal, administrative, constitutional and political—that plague the overall framework.

To strengthen the cooperative federalism, disputes must be resolved by dialogue and talks and the political opportunism must be avoided.

A robust and transparent institutional framework with cooperative approach is need of the hour.

Provisions related to interstate river water disputes:

Entry 17 of State List deals with water i.e. water supply, irrigation, canal, drainage, embankments, water storage and water power.

Entry 56 of Union List empowers the Union Government for the regulation and development of inter-state rivers and river valleys to the extent declared by Parliament to be expedient in the public interest.

Article 262: In the case of disputes relating to waters, it provides

• Clause 1:Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-State river or river valley.
• Clause 2:Parliament may, by law provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint as mentioned above