Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project : Supreme Court Clarifies Status Quo Order

In an application filed by the State of Telangana seeking clarification of the status quo order, a Bench comprising Justice K.M. Joseph and Justice B.V. Nagarathna noted that the status quo order dated 27th July, 2022 would not stand on the way of the applications made by the State before the Godavari River Management Board seeking approval of the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) or as a matter of fact any other applications made before other competent authorities, which are to be processed strictly in accordance with law.

With respect to acquisition, the Bench clarified that the status quo order would not come in the way of the State of Telangana offering compensation to the owners of land who are ready to accept the same.

The KLIP, at present envisages to provide irrigation facilities by diverting 3 TMC of water per day from inter-state River Godavari till State of Telangana exhausts the entirety of its annual entitlement of the inter-state river water i.e. 240 TMC of water.

In 2015-16, the Telangana Government re-engineered the Pranahita Chevella Lift Irrigation project and proposed the KLIP with the purported aim to increase agricultural productivity in the upland areas of Telangana. The re-designed project is to lift 2 TMC of water per day for 90 days per year from the Godavari River. In 2019, the project was modified and provision was made to draw one additional TMC of water per day. Accordingly, an irrigation canal with 1 TMC capacity, is being built parallelly to an existing canal which has 2 TMC capacity. With the enhanced capacity the State of Telangana aims to draw 240 TMC water in 60 days instead of 90 days.

On 07.08.2020, and again on 11.12.2020, the Minister of Jal Shakthi, Government of India, had addressed letters to the Chief Minister of Telangana asking not to proceed with the project before obtaining requisite sanctions.

The expansion of the project in 2019 was challenged before the National Green Tribunal. On 20.10.2020, it held that the expansion was without Environmental Clearance. It observed that the issue ought to be evaluated by statutory expert committees before expansion is undertaken.

On 15.07.2021, Ministry of Jal Shakti (Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation) notified that KLIP has no approval and asked the State to stop the ongoing work on all the unapproved projects. However, the Telangana Government issued notification under Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 for acquiring land in Achampally Village, Gangadhara Mandal, Karimnagar District with respect to the KLP.

The acquisition notification was challenged before the Telangana High Court, which rejected it on the ground of maintainability. Noting that the lis pertains to inter-state river water dispute, it opined that the High Court does not have jurisdiction.

While issuing notice in the Special Leave Petition, on 27.07.2022, the Apex Court had passed the following order -

"Issue notice returnable on 23rd August...In the meantime, status quo, as of today, shall be maintained by the parties in all respects. It is further made clear that all steps taken by the concerned authorities with regard to the subject matter of these petitions shall be subject to the outcome of these petitions.”

[Case Title: Sriram Gangajamuna And Ors. v. State of Telangana And Ors. SLP (C) No. 8454 of 2022]