Pennaiyar River Dispute : Supreme Court Directs Constitution Of New Negotiation Committee In Case Between Tamil Nadu & Karnataka

In a dispute between the States of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over sharing of Pennaiyar river water resources, the Supreme Court today directed that a new Negotiation Committee be constituted to re-explore the possibility of settlement by negotiations between the States.

The Bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra ordered that the Committee submit its report over the outcome to the Union government within 3 months of its constitution and the matter be listed thereafter.

The dispute was brought to the top court by State of Tamil Nadu in form of a suit under Article 131 of the Constitution against State of Karnataka and Union of India. Over the course of hearings, it was suggested that as negotiations between the States did not result in a solution, the Union government may constitute a Tribunal to do the needful.

Today, ASG Aishwarya Bhati and Senior Advocate Wasim Qadri (appearing for Union of India), apprised the court that a request had been received on behalf of State of Karnataka to the effect that its newly constituted government would like to re-explore the possibility of settling the dispute with Tamil Nadu through negotiations. 

Counsels appearing for State of Karnataka supported the same, averring that a Negotiation Committee was constituted to address the dispute of sharing of water of Pennaiyar river and its tributaries between the States. However, the Committee met only on two occasions and thereafter practically became defunct. Karnataka's new government, it was contended, which was elected in May, 2023, had had no opportunity to negotiate with State of Tamil Nadu with respect to the dispute.

Senior AAG V. Krishnamurthy and Senior Advocate G Umapathy, appearing for Tamil Nadu, objected by asserting that the Union government had initiated the process for constitution of a Tribunal, however, went back on it. In this regard, attention was drawn to previous orders of the court, including order dated November 16, 2022, where a submission of ASG Bhati, to the effect that there was no likelihood of settlement of the dispute by negotiation and the government was likely to constitute a Tribunal, was recorded. 

Reference was also made to order dated December 12, 2022, where it was recorded that a Cabinet Note for the Constitution of Pennaiyar Water Disputes Tribunal had been approved by the concerned Minister (Jal Shakti) and circulated amongst concerned Ministries for comments/observations.

On Tamil Nadu counsels' attempting to impress upon the court that with its intervention, a Tribunal had been constituted to resolve the Kaveri River dispute, ASG Bhati countered, "those disputes are also still going...your Lordships may give settlement a fair chance...even if there is a bleak hope of it". She urged that water disputes had to be seen with "a little more sensitivity" as there are no "easy solutions" in these cases, but from the stand that State of Tamil Nadu was taking, it appeared that it was not willing to explore the possibility of settlement.

At this point, counsels representing State of Karnataka pressed that a Tribunal could be constituted only after Central government was of the opinion that the dispute could not be resolved through negotiations.

While passing its order, the Court noted that under Section 4 of the Inter-States River Water Disputes Act, 1956, a Tribunal can be constituted only after the Central government is of the opinion that the water dispute cannot be settled by negotiations. It was recorded that the time limit for completion of the negotiation process is also specified in the Act as 1 year.

"With the aforesaid request made on behalf of the newly elected government of Karnataka and the fact that the Committee constituted on January 20, 2020 failed to make any serious endeavor for resolution of the water dispute between the two States, we deem it appropriate to direct the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India to constitute a fresh Negotiation Committee as envisaged under Section 4(1) of the Act. The notification constituting the Committee be issued within 2 weeks", the court said.

It was added that the Committee to be constituted shall make an earnest endeavor to reach a negotiated settlement of the inter-State dispute over the Pennaiyar river.

Case Title: The State of Tamil Nadu v. The State of Karnataka and Anr., Original Suit No. 1 of 2018

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