SC directs Centre to constitute Mahanadi Tribunal within 1 month

0

KalingaTV News Network

New Delhi: In a major relief for Odisha, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to constitute tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

A bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices S. A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao conducted the hearing on the inter-state river water dispute between the two neighbouring states and asked the Union government to form the Mahanadi Tribunal within one month.

The Apex Court had on January 16 deferred its hearing over the issue due to absence of Justice S. A Bobde.

The top Court of the country had on December 11, 2017 directed the Ministry of Water Resources to file a detailed report on formation of a tribunal by the third week of January failing which the court would hear the case on the basis of merit.

The court had expressed its displeasure over Centre’s negligence in not portraying a clear picture on formation of a tribunal to resolve Mahanadi water dispute between the states.

Notably, Odisha has been opposing Chhattisgarh’s plans to build barrages on the upper catchment of Mahanadi river. It had claimed that construction of barrages would adversely affect the interest of Odisha farmers. It had urged the Union government to form a tribunal to resolve the issue.

The Centre had apprised the court to issue a notification by November 19, 2017 for formation of tribunal. However, later it had filed an affidavit in the apex court and had refused to constitute a tribunal saying that the dispute should be sorted out through negotiations between the concerned parties.

The Centre had blamed the Odisha government over failure of negotiation. It had told the court that Odisha was not coming forward for negotiation in the matter.

Earlier, on July 25, 2017 the Centre and both the state governments presented their sides in the court.

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.