HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Andhra Pradesh farmers challenging the GO 34 issued by the Telangana government in 2021 to utilise the Krishna river waters for power generation.
Stating that the said petition filed by the farmers was having components of interstate river, water valley dispute etc., the court said, Article 262 of the Indian Constitution gave powers to adjudicate such disputes and complaints to Parliament. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili made it clear that the petition was not maintainable.
The bench quoted the clause of Article 262, which clearly mentions that Parliament may, by law, provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-state river or river valley.
The farmers had filed a petition in the first week of July 2021, challenging the power generation from the Krishna water, when there were no full levels of water stored in the projects.
Contrary to the regular hearing and side-lining the bench, which has provision to hear the inter-state issues, the petitioner’s counsel requested for hearing before another bench on Sunday, which deals with AP Reorganisation issues. But the office of advocate general of Telangana government asked the judge of that bench to recuse from hearing of that petition.
It created some disquiet, till the then Chief Justice Hima Kohli interfered in the matter and adjourned the case. The petition has been pending since then and it was dismissed now.
