Plea in SC seeking bench to hear Krishna water dispute

A plea was made in the Supreme Court on Friday to constitute a bench to deal with a matter related to the distribution of Krishna water among Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Senior advocates Shyam Divan and C S Vaidyanathan mentioned it before a bench presided over by Chief Justice N V Ramana on behalf of Karnataka and Telangana respectively.

Divan said after the recusal of Justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna, a fresh bench has to be set up.

The CJI, while agreeing to consider the plea, sought to know if there was a possibility of mediation. To this, Divan said though certain aspects can be mediated upon, there are still several issues that require the court’s intervention.

In August 2021 too, the CJI had suggested mediation in the matter. However, Andhra Pradesh had said there was no such a possibility.

On January 10, both Justices Chandrachud and Bopanna opted out of the hearing, saying that they belong to the affected states.

Previously, Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar (since expired) had withdrawn themselves from the case.

“We don’t want ourselves to be the target of invectives. Day in and day out, we have been hearing cases arising out of our home states, but it is better the matter is placed before some other bench,” Justice Chandrachud had then said.

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