Re-allocaton of krishna water between AP & TS: Tribunal postpones hearing to Jan 22

Vijayawada: The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT) postponed the hearing on re-allocation of Krishna water between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States for two months. As the hearing was scheduled to be held on Wednesday, the tribunal postponed the hearing to January 22 by asking both the States to file their statements on the case.

It may be noted that the Ministry of Jal Shakti referred the matter of re-allocation of Krishna water between AP and Telangana to the Tribunal.

The AP government sought time to study and consider the impact and legality of the present reference made to the tribunal and also adjournment of the proceedings when the tribunal resumed its proceedings in October.

As per the plea of AP government, the KWDT headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar gave time till November 20 to consider the impact and legality of the recent reference made to the tribunal by the Centre.

In addition the State government also raised objections over reallocation of Krishna waters and filed petition against the Central government gazette in the Supreme Court. The hearing on the case is scheduled to come before Supreme Court on November 29.

It may be noted that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the authorities not to proceed further on the terms of reference given to the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal -II under Section 5 (1) of ISRWD Act 1956 as the unilateral reference would jeopardise the interests of people of Andhra Pradesh. The Chief Minister in his letter stated that the unilateral reference of Inter State water dispute tribunal only for two States is unscientific as the river basin covers Maharashtra and Karnataka too.

He asked the Union Jal Shakti Minister to take a judicious decision in regard to non-maintainability of the complaints given by the Telangana government under law without disturbing the settled allocations earlier by the tribunals.