Water Resources Minister Ambati Rambabu said the issuance of additional Terms of Reference (ToR) by the Central government to the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) was illegal, and the Andhra Pradesh government would challenge it in the Supreme Court by filing a Special Leave Petition (SLP).
Addressing media persons here on Saturday, Mr. Rambabu said the dispute over sharing Krishna waters had been going on for a long time and it was for its settlement that the Bachawat Tribunal was set up way back in 1969. The allocations have since been made on the basis of the award passed by the Bachawat Tribunal.
The KWDT-I was formed in 2004 to take care of the distribution of surplus waters. The government of the unified State of A.P. had challenged the allocations made by KDWT-I after it submitted its first report in 2010. The other riparian States too challenged it later, resulting in the imposition of a stay by the Supreme Court.
The KWDT-II submitted its second report at that juncture but it was neither published nor given effect in the form of a gazette notification due to the court stay.
Mr. Rambabu said after the bifurcation of A.P., the Central government mandated the KWDT-II to look into the implications of Section 89 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 and it went on to assign additional ToR to the tribunal when the matter was pending in the Supreme Court and in spite of objections raised by the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The Central government stated that the decision to expand the ToR was taken after a thorough examination of legal opinions and the responses to issues raised by the Telangana government in its complaint submitted under Section (3) of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.
The Minister said 512 TMCFT of Krishna river water must be allocated to A.P. and 299 TMCFT to Telangana as per the Bachawat Tribunal award, to which the Central government and both States have agreed. Notwithstanding this, the ToR were sought to be expanded, which A.P. would oppose tooth and nail keeping in view the interests of lakhs of farmers, Mr. Rambabu added.
