Centre Extends Tenure Of Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal For Two Years

Bhubaneswar: The Centre on Thursday extended the tenure of the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal for a period of two years till March 11, 2023.

In a notification, the Jal Shakti Ministry said the tribunal was required to submit its report and decision as required under sub-section (2) of section 5 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 within a period of three years by March 11, 2021. But as it could not submit the report within the deadline, it had requested the Centre for an extension to do so.

“Considering the request, the Centre has extended the period of submission of report and decision by the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal for a period of two years up to March 11, 2023, or till the submission of report and decision under sub-section (2) of section 5 of the said Act, whichever is earlier,” the notification added.

It may be mentioned that the Odisha government had filed a complaint with the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (now Ministry of Jal Shakti) with a request to the Centre for adjudication of water disputes in respect of river Mahanadi and its basin between Odisha and Chhattisgarh and refer the complaint to the tribunal under Section 5(1) of the ISRWD Act, 1956.

Acting on the complaint, The Centre had constituted a Negotiation Committee for settlement of the dispute through negotiation.

The committee submitted its report in May 2017. It mentioned that any further meetings of this committee would not be fruitful as there had been no participation from Odisha in the meetings.

Accordingly, it was concluded that the dispute cannot be resolved by negotiation. Subsequently, the Centre constituted Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal on March 12, 2018.