Penniyar River Dispute | Proposal To Form Tribunal Submitted To Cabinet Secretariat : Centre Tells Supreme Court

In November, 2022, the Court had pulled up the Centre for delay in resolving the Inter-State River Water dispute through negotiations. During the course of the hearing, the Additional Solicitor General had informed the Bench that it was unlikely that the dispute would be settled through negotiations by the Negotiation Committee and the Union Government would have to constitute a Tribunal to resolve the dispute between the concerned States. In January, 2019, the Supreme Court permitted the Tamil Nadu Government to seek the constitution of a Tribunal on the dispute over sharing of water of Pennaiyar river. In 2020, the Union Government had constituted a Negotiation Commission to resolve the water dispute.

In December, 2022, the Apex Court was informed by the Additional Solicitor General that the cabinet nod for the constitution of Penniyar Water Tribunal has been approved by the concerned Ministry (Jal Shakti) & the same has been circulated to Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Law & Justice, Ministry of Finance, Prime Minister's Office on 29th November, 2022 for their comments/ observations. Subsequently, legal vetting was to be done by the Ministry of Law & Justice. Thereafter, Gazette notification of Pennaiyar Water Disputes Tribunal was to be issued after the Union Cabinet's approval. For the completion of the process, the Centre had sought for six months. However, the Apex Court had given a deadline of three months to complete the process of constituting the Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunal.

In May, 2023, the Apex Court had granted one month’s additional time to the Union Government to constitute the Tribunal, including the issuance of the Gazette Notification.

[Case Title: State of Tamil Nadu v. State of Karnataka Original Suit No. 1 of 2018]