The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the issue of further Terms of Reference (ToR) to the existing Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) under section 5(1) of the ISRWD Act for its adjudication Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (AP). This is based on receipt of the legal opinion and in light of the issues raised by Government of Telangana (GoT) in their complaint under Section (3) of the Inter State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956.
The resolution of dispute between the two states on the use, distribution or control of Krishna River waters will open new avenues of growth in Telangana and AP and will be beneficial for the people of both the states. Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II was constituted by the Central Government on April 2, 2004 on request made by the party states under Section 3 of the ISRWD Act, 1956. Subsequently, on June 2, 2014, Telangana came into existence as a sate. As per Section 89 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act (APRA), 2014, the tenure of the KWDT-II was extended to address the clauses (a) and (b) of the
section of APRA, 2014.
Subsequently, Government of Telangana (GoT) forwarded a complaint on July 14, 2014 to the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD & GR), Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS), Govt. of India, referring the dispute on the use, distribution or control of Krishna River waters. A writ petition was also filed by GoT in the Supreme Court in 2015. In 2018, GoT further requested DoWR, RD & GR, MoJS to refer the complaint to the existing KWDT-II by confining the scope of reference between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh only. The matter was later discussed in the second Apex Council meeting in 2020 held under the Minister of Jal Shakti.
As discussed during the second Apex Council meeting, GoT withdrew the writ petition in 2021 and subsequently, legal opinion of Ministry of Law & Justice (MoL&J) was sought by DoWR, RD & GR in the matter.
Source: PIB
