In a significant development and victory for Odisha in the dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over sharing of Mahanadi river water, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Union Government to issue a notification regarding formation of a tribunal within a month to resolve the issue.
Conducting hearing on the inter-State river water dispute, a Bench of the apex court comprising Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao issued the direction to the Centre which is regarded as a remarkable victory for the Odisha Government.
The court’s direction holds importance as the Centre had in December last year told the Supreme Court that there is no need to constitute a tribunal.
In a submission made through an affidavit before the apex court, the Centre had shifted the blame on the Odisha Government for failing to provide relevant facts and figures required for constitution of a tribunal despite several attempts by it to seek the details.
On the other hand, the Odisha Government had filed a counter affidavit in the Supreme Court in response to the affidavit filed by the Centre. The Odisha Government in its 60-page affidavit accused the Centre of providing erroneous information to the apex court while violating law by not constituting a tribunal.
During Tuesday’s hearing in the Supreme Court, the advocates for Odisha convincingly argued against formation of a joint control board as the same does not have any dispute resolution mechanism in the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) entered into by both States in 1983.
This agreement is limited to joint projects, which, however never came up.??
It may be recalled that the Centre during a hearing on the Mahanadi water dispute on October 9 last year had committed before the Supreme Court that a decision with regard to the constitution of a tribunal would be taken before November 19.
Further, the then Union Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Kumar Balyan while replying to a query by AV Swamy, MP from Odisha had said in the Rajya Sabha on July 31 last year that the draft Cabinet note on formation of a tribunal has been prepared.