Krishna River Water Dispute: Justice Sanjay Kumar Recuses, Bench Refers Matter To CJI For Relisting

The Supreme Court today (October 18) sought the relisting of a writ petition filed by the State of Telangana against the Andhra Pradesh Government and Krishna River Management Board after Justice Sanjay Kumar recused from the hearing.

The matter came up before a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Kumar, when Justice Khanna said: "This will go before another bench...Subject to others of honourable Chief Justice of India, the present writ petition may be listed before another bench of which one of us, my brother [referring to Justice Kumar] is not a member. After Diwali."

Background

The Krishna River originates at Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra and flows east towards Bay of Bengal, covering, together with its tributaries, 33 percent of the total area of the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. The current dispute has been inherited by the four riparian states from the erstwhile Hyderabad and Mysore states from which they were carved out.

In 1969, under the Inter-State River Water Dispute Act, the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) was set up, which sought to divide the 2060 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water at 75 percent dependability into three parts: 560 TMC for Maharashtra, 700 TMC for Karnataka, and 800 TMC for undivided Andhra Pradesh. The tribunal also stipulated a review or revision of this order by a competent authority or tribunal any time after May 2000.

In 2004, a second KWDT was instituted under Section 4 of the Inter-State River Water Dispute Act in light of new grievances between the states. In 2010, this tribunal allocated the Krishna water at 65 percent dependability and for surplus flow as follows: 81 TMC for Maharashtra, 177 TMC for Karnataka, and 190 TMC for undivided Andhra Pradesh. However, in 2011, the State of Andhra Pradesh challenged this order before the Supreme Court, which enjoined the Centre from publishing it in the official Gazette till further directions of the court. In 2014, the Andhra Pradesh government also challenged a further report published by the tribunal in 2013.

In June 2014, undivided Andhra Pradesh was formally split in two, with its northern area carved out to create a new state called Telangana. Andhra Pradesh has since urged Telangana to be included as a separate party at the KWDT, the term of which has been extended by the central government, and for the water sharing arrangement of the Krishna River water to be reworked in view of Telangana's newly gained statehood. However, Maharashtra and Karnataka have resisted this move, arguing that the share approved for undivided Andhra Pradesh should be apportioned between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as they are now.

The final order of KWDT-II has not been notified by the central government yet. Both the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka have filed applications before the top court seeking modification of its 2011 interim order and for a direction to the Centre to notify the decision and final report of the tribunal, as well as the further report published in 2013. In 2021, the Karnataka government filed an additional affidavit in the 2019 interlocutory application to direct the central government to publish the tribunal's modified final order subject to the outcome of the pending special leave petitions.

Case Details: THE STATE OF TELANGANA v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS, W.P.(C) No. 666/2024