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SC gives new dimension to Krishna dispute

The Supreme Court on Tuesday provided a new dimension to the dispute regarding sharing of the river Krishna's waters between Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, stating that the related suits pending before the court in this connection were not maintainable.

Solicitor-General Harish Salve, initiating arguments on behalf of the Centre, said that the suit was not maintainable in view of Article 262 of the Constitution, which barred the jurisdiction of courts in inter-state river disputes.

He said that the Centre was not bound to implement and execute an award of the Interstate Water Disputes Tribunal by framing a scheme under Section 6(a) of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act.

He submitted that Section 6(a) was only an enabling provision and that the court could not issue a mandamus to the Centre to notify a scheme under Section 6 of the act for the award's implementation.

Salve contended that even assuming that Scheme B of the Bachawat Tribunal award regarding sharing of the surplus river water was a decision of the tribunal, the Centre could not be compelled to frame a scheme under Section 6(a) of the act.

Section 6 (Publication of a tribunal decision) and Section 6(a) (for framing a scheme), the council pointed out, operated on different planes.

He said that the states who were party to the dispute were bound by the decision of the tribunal and a competent court could issue a mandamus to them to implement the decision.

UNI

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