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State Of Orissa vs Government Of India & Anr.

País/Territorio
India
Tipo de la corte
Nacional - corte superior
Fecha
Feb 6, 2009
Fuente
UNEP, InforMEA
Nombre del tribunal
Supreme Court of India
Juez
Kabir, A.
Katju, M.
Idioma
Inglés
Materia
Agua
Palabra clave
Corte/tribunal Derechos de agua Procedimientos judiciales/procedimientos administrativos Solución de controversias
Resumen
A writ petition was filed by the State of Orissa for a direction to the Central Government to constitute a Water Disputes Tribunal under the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956 and to refer to the Tribunal the dispute contained in the complaint made by the State of Orissa on 13th February, 2006, as to whether the State of Andhra Pradesh was justified in constructing a Side Channel Weir and Flood Flow Canal Project on the river Vansadhara at Katragada, which would adversely affect the supply of water from the river to the State of Orissa and adversely affect the livelihood of thousands of people of Orissa in glaring violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. On 30 December, 1994, a meeting was held between the Chief Ministers of the two States and it was decided that all the available water would be shared between the two States on a 50:50 basis annually. Andhra Pradesh on 6th January, 2005, announced that the waters of the Vansadhara river would be diverted at Katragada to a 34 kms. long Flood Flow Canal and be stored in the Heeramandalam reservoir to irrigate 1.07 lakh acres of land by utilizing 19 TMC of water. It was apprehended by the State of Orissa that the said proposed project would deprive the villagers of Orissa lying on the opposite bank in the down stream from even dry-weather flow and there was also a possibility of shifting of the river course itself. Despite the resolution adopted at the Inter-State meeting held on 24th February, 2005, whereby four meetings were proposed to be held, no such meetings were convened, and, on the other hand, despite the undertaking given by the two States, the State of Andhra Pradesh continued with its construction work on the Flood Flow Canal by continuing with land acquisition and other preliminary works. While the Government of India remained inactive, the State of Andhra Pradesh proceeded with the work of the Side Channel Weir and Flood Flow Canal at Katragada on the river Vansadhara compelling the State of Orissa to move the instant writ petition. What the Court is called upon to decide is whether the diversion of a portion of the river waters into a Side Channel Weir and a Flood Flow Canal violates the said agreement and if it does, whether the same would amount to a water dispute between the two States. After amendment of sub-section (1) by the Inter- State Water Dispute (Amendment) Act, 2002, sub- section (1) of Section 4 reads as follows: "4. Constitution of Tribunal.- (1) When any request under Section 3 is received from any State Government in respect of any water dispute and the Central Government is of opinion that the water dispute cannot be settled by negotiations, the Central Government shall, within a period not exceeding one year from the date of receipt of such request by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute a Water Dispute Tribunal for the adjudication of the water dispute”. A time-frame has now been fixed for the constitution of a Water Disputes Tribunal to settle the water dispute. In the Court view, such a dispute must be held to be a water dispute within the meaning of Section 2(c) (i) of the 1956 Act, which refers to any dispute between two or more State Governments with regard to the use, distribution or control of the waters of or/in any inter-State river or river valley, as it involves the diversion of the river waters to the State of Andhra Pradesh, which could possibly disturb the agreement to share the waters of the river equally. Moreover, the time frame inserted into Sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act also persuades me to grant the reliefs prayed for by the State of Orissa since its complaint is pending from 13.2.2006.
Texto completo
COU-156201.pdf
Página web
www.indiankanoon.org