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SC asks govt for restrain on Krishna water issue

Last Updated 16 September 2011, 19:09 IST

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and R M Lodha, however, declined to stay the decision of the tribunal which was challenged by Andhra Pradesh.

The court also did not stay the proceedings before the KWDT seeking explanation or guidance on the award.

With the court’s order, there is unlikely to be any adverse impact on the ongoing projects in the Krishna river basin in Karnataka.

Under the Inter-State Water Dispute Act, the Tribunal’s award attains finality with its publication by the Centre.

Karnataka and Maharshtra had earlier questioned the maintainability of the petition filed by Andhra Pradesh (AP) against the KWDT award.

Review petition

They contended that a review petition filed by AP against the award was already pending with the Tribunal.

Both states maintained that since the award becomes final only after the disposal of the review petition, an aggrieved state can file review under Section 5(3) of the Inter-State Water Dispute Act.

Andhra Pradesh, in its petition, had alleged the tribunal had made excess allocation in an arbitrary and illegal manner to the two states in its December 2010 award and deprived the state of its legitimate share of 130 tmc ft water.

In its petition, AP had contended it would lose rights over more than 130 tmc ft of surplus water because of the tribunal's award, though it has got an additional 190 tmc ft of water as firm allocation in the award made on December 30, 2010.

AP had also claimed that the award had put the state at the mercy of Karnataka, an upper riparian state.

The state earlier had rights over 320 tmc ft of surplus water, which the tribunal headed by Justice Brijesh Kumar reduced to 190 tmc ft, while Karnataka and Maharashtra have been given 177 tmc ft and 81 tmc ft surplus water, respectively.

It had further objected to the permission given to Karnataka for raising the height of Almatti dam to 524.5 metres from 519 metres.

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(Published 16 September 2011, 19:09 IST)

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