The Supreme Court has started final hearing on Andhra Pradesh’s challenge to the Centre’s fresh reference under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act in the Krishna river dispute. The State argues the 2023 notification is unconstitutional and overrides the mechanism under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday began final hearing of an important case related to the Krishna river water-sharing dispute between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The matter concerns a 2023 notification issued by the Central government making a fresh reference under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi heard the initial arguments from the petitioner challenging the Centre’s decision. The petitioner has claimed that the move of the Union government is “unconstitutional” and goes against the legal mechanism already provided under a special law.
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Senior counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the sharing of Krishna river water between the two States is already governed by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act (APRA), 2014.
He pointed out that Section 89 of the APRA clearly laid down a specific mechanism to divide 811 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water. This 811 TMC was originally allocated to the undivided State of Andhra Pradesh by the first Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT-I) in the 1970s.
According to the petitioner, the legal process under the Reorganisation Act was already moving towards its final stage when the Central government issued a notification on October 6, 2023. Through this notification, the Centre made a “further reference” under the general Inter-State River Water Disputes Act.
The senior counsel argued before the Court that this step of issuing a fresh reference has disturbed the special scheme created under the Reorganisation Act.
He said that when Parliament has already made a specific statutory arrangement under the APRA for dividing Krishna waters between the two successor States, the executive cannot override that mechanism by issuing a new notification under a general law.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel made it clear that the present dispute is limited only to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. He told the Bench,
“We are now only talking about the division of waters between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Maharashtra and Karnataka have already been excluded from this reference, an issue that has attained finality,”
the counsel submitted, adding that an executive notification cannot override a statutory mechanism.
The Krishna river water dispute has a long legal history. The first Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT-I) had fixed allocations based on 75 per cent dependable flow.
Later, a second tribunal reassessed the flow and allocations. However, the award of the second tribunal has not yet been formally notified and is still under challenge before the Supreme Court.
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The petitioner has argued that instead of completing the process already set in motion under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, the Centre has unnecessarily invoked the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act once again. According to the petitioner, this creates confusion and delays the final resolution of water-sharing between the two States.
The Bench has now posted the matter for further hearing next Wednesday. The outcome of this case is expected to have a major impact on how river water disputes between States are handled, especially when there is a special statutory framework already in place for such division after the reorganisation of a State.
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