SC Defers Hearing On Mahanadi Water Dispute

Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred its hearing over
tribunal formation on Mahanadi issue owing to the absence of Judges.

Hearing on the issue was slated to be conducted by a bench of Justices
S.A. Bobde and L Nageswara Rao.

On December 11 last year, the apex court had asked the Ministry of
Water Resources to present a report on formation of a tribunal by the
third week of January. The court had also stated that hearing on the
case will be done on merit basis, if the Ministry fails to submit its
report within the stipulated time.

Hearing a petition filed by Odisha government seeking formation of
tribunal by the Centre to settle the longstanding dispute with
Chhattisgarh government, the court had expressed its dissatisfaction
over the Centre for its failure in constituting a tribunal for which
Odisha has been demanding for the last one year.

Reiterating its stand, the Centre had stated that there is no need of
forming a tribunal as the dispute between both the governments can be
addressed through a joint control board.

Earlier on December 7, the Centre had submitted an affidavit before
the Supreme Court denying formation of a tribunal. In the affidavit,
it had accused the Odisha government for not adducing relevant
information required for formation of a tribunal.

Two days after such move, Odisha government had filed a 60-page
affidavit before the apex court stating that the Centre has violated
the Inter-State water Disputes Act, 1956. It had earlier committed the
decision on setting up a tribunal by November 19 last year but failed
to do so.