Telangana agrees to withdraw case filed in SC related to sharing of Krishna & Godavari water

Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. (File Photo)

The center will go ahead with notifying the jurisdiction of the Godavari and Krishna river management boards as Telangana has agreed to withdraw the case it filed in the Supreme Court about sharing of waters, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Tuesday.

Shekhawat made this announcement after chairing the meeting of the 2nd Apex Council with Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The Apex Council, which was set up by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 is headed by the Union Jal Shakti Minister and the Chief Ministers of both states are members. It is mandated to approve any new projects planned by both the states on the two rivers—Godavari and Krishna.

Besides, the Council has power to supervise the functioning of Godavari and Krishna river management boards as well as to resolve any dispute arising out of sharing of river waters between both the states.

The Council meeting was attended by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy through a video conference.

Based on the discussion in the council meeting, it was decided that Centre will go ahead with notifying the jurisdiction of both Krishna and Godavari river management boards, Shekhawat told reporters after the meeting.

“As per the AP Reorganisation Act, the centre is empowered to notify the jurisdiction of these two boards. We discussed it with both of the states. They expressed their views. However, the Chief Minister of Telangana dissented on this issue,” Shekhawat said.

Under the AP Reorganisation Act, both the boards are assigned the powers to regulate the supply of water from the projects to both the states. However, their jurisdiction was not notified even after six years because of the differences between the two states.

The council also decided to shift the Krishna River Management headquarters to the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Jal Shakti said in a statement that Telangana has agreed to withdraw the case filed in Supreme Court to enable the Centre to move forward on referring the water sharing issues to the tribunal under provisions of Inter State River Water Disputes Act (ISRWD Act), 1956.

“With regards to sharing of River waters between both the states in both Godavari and Krishna Rivers, CM of Telangana agreed to withdraw the case they filed in Supreme Court to enable Centre to move forward on referring the water sharing issues to the tribunal under Section-3 of ISRWD Act of 1956, after taking due legal opinion,” the statement said.

“With regards to sharing of River Godavari waters between both the states, both the states were asked to send in the request to Centre so that Centre can move forward to refer to the tribunal under section-3 of ISWRD Act of 1956. Telangana CM said that he would send the request to Centre in a day,” it added.

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