State seeks stay on award by Brijesh Kumar Tribunal
Telangana constitutes nearly 35 per cent of the catchment area of the river and there has been injustice to the region in terms of allocation of water to projects in Telangana. (Photo: DC/File)
Hyderabad: The Telangana government has decided to approach the Supreme Court to stay operationisation of the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal Award for distribution of Krishna Waters among the riparian states. It wants a fresh hearing by the Tribunal to decide the legitimate share of Krishna waters for Telangana as it was newly formed and it wants its requirements to be also considered.
The Telangana government on Monday filed a petition to this effect in the Supreme Court. However, as a bench headed by Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya and Justice N.V. Ramana recused itself from hearing the petition, it will now be referred to another bench to decide on the admissibility.
The Telangana state government contended that it was seeking a stay because the undivided AP government did not argue issues related to the region properly before the Tribunal.
It also said that Telangana constitutes nearly 35 per cent of the catchment area of the river and there has been injustice to the region in terms of allocation of water to projects in Telangana. It also stated that Telangana state which came into existence on June 2, 2014, has every right to demand its legitimate share of Kris-hna waters and requested the apex court to issue appropriate orders for the Tribunal for a fresh hearing of the pleas by the riparian states including Telangana.
It said in the petition that unless the existing award announced by the Tribunal was stalled to take up fresh hearings, the injustice for Telan-gana would continue.The Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, that was constituted in April 2004 by the Union government headed by A.B. Vajpayee, had completed the hearings and announced its award on December 30, 2010. Later, Maharastra, Karnataka and AP had filed their objections and after considering them, the Tribunal had made the final award in 2013.
However, before the Union government notified the final award to be implemented, the then AP government went to the apex court and got a stay order against the Gazette publication.
Meanwhile, both Maharastra and Karnataka filed petitions before the apex court seeking direction to the Central government to notify the Award. Based on these, the apex court had issued notices to all the states including Telangana state and the Centre. The matter is still under consideration by the apex court.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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