Krishna panel sets Telangana, Andhra Pradesh deadlines for filing affidavits

Hyderabad: Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II has decided to expedite hearings on allocations between TS and AP, and on Thursday fixed May 4 and 5 as the dates for commencement of hearing on the matter.

When the matter came up for hearing on Thursday in Delhi, the governments of both TS and AP again sought four weeks to file their statements on their claim of the water share.

However refusing to give four weeks, KWDT-II chairman Justice Brijesh Kumar allowed them time till April 13 to file the statements of claims and counters to the statements by April 2 and commencement of hearing on May 4 and 5.

In a related development, the Union water resources ministry representative made a submission to the Tribunal chairman requesting expedition of the hearings and verdict as the issue continues to drag on, despite the Tribunal being constituted over two years ago.

It was submitted to the Tribunal that originally, both the states were to submit their statements in January itself, but both sought time till March and on Thursday sought another one-month extension.

This kind of prolonging litigation will only hamper the expeditious disposal of the matter unnecessarily, the water resources ministry representative said, and appealed to Justice Brijesh Kumar not to allow the time that was sought by the two states.

Agreeing with this, Justice Brijesh Kumar cut short the time sought by the states and also fixed the time schedule.