Question : INTER-STATE WATER DISPUTES

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES(SHRI VINCENT H. PALA)

(a) to (c) The mechanism for settlement of water disputes is available in the form of Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956 which provides for settlement of disputes by negotiations failing which referring such dispute to a tribunal for adjudication. The ISRWD Act, 1956 has been amended in the year 2002 whereby the adjudication of the water disputes by the tribunal has been made time-bound.

(d) As per the ISRWD Act, 1956, the water dispute arises among two or more State Governments when the Central Government receives request under Section 3 of the Act from any of the basin State with regard to existence of water dispute. The details of the present inter-State water disputes under ISRWD Act, 1956 are as follows:

S.No.	River/Rivers	States concerned	Date of	Date of Reference to	Reference	the Central	to the Government	Tribunal

1.	Ravi &	Punjab,Haryana and	____	April,1986	Beas	Rajasthan

2. Cauvery	Kerala,Karnataka,	July,1986	June, 1990 Tamil Nadu and Pudducherry

3.	Krishna	Karnataka,Andhra	September, April, 2004 Pradesh and	2002– Maharashtra	January,2003

4.	Madei/Mo	Goa,Karnataka and	July,2002	-	ndovi/Ma	Maharashtra	hadayi

5. Vansadha	Andhra Pradesh &	February,2006	-	ra	Orissa 

The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) submitted report and decision under section 5(2) of the ISRWD Act, 1956 on 5.2.2007.Party States and Central Government have sought guidance/clarification from the tribunal under section 5(3) of the Act.The tribunal has not submitted its further report to the Government.Further,party States have also filed Special Leave Petition(SLP) in Hon’ble Supreme Court against the report and decision of the tribunal as mentioned above. The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal passed orders on Interim Relief Applications of the States on 9.6.2006.

The water dispute related to Ravi & Beas was referred to the Ravi & Beas Waters Tribunal (RBWT) in 1986 under Section 14 of the said Act.RBWT submitted its report on 30.1.1987 under section 5(2) of the Act.Party States and Central Government have sought explanation/guidance under section 5(3) of the Act from the Tribunal.The Tribunal has not submitted its further report to the Government.

In respect of Mahadayi/Mandovi River Water Disputes raised by Government of Goa, the Ministry of Water Resources is of the opinion that water dispute contained in the request of Government of Goa cannot be settled by negotiation. Meanwhile, the Government of Goa filed a suit in the Supreme Court for setting up of Water Dispute Tribunal for adjudication of above River Water Dispute and an Interlocutory Application (IA) for stay in construction activity in September 2006.

In respect of Vansadhara Water Dispute, the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide order dated 06.02.2009 directed the Central Government to constitute the tribunal within a period of six months. As the work of constitution of tribunal is time consuming, the Ministry of Water Resources has prayed Hon’ble Supreme Court to grant a further period of six months to constitute the tribunal beyond the time stipulated in the above orders.