Justice Brijesh Kumar Tribunal to share water for Telangana, Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: The Justice Brijesh Kumar Tribunal in its verdict on Wednesday made it clear that it would take up hearing on fresh allocations of Krishna river waters only with respect of Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh, and ruled out extending it to Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The tribunal in its final verdict stated that Krishna water allocations among the four riparian states made in 2013 would stand unaltered; it would only adjudicate the matter of fresh distribution of the total allocation of 1,001 tmc  ft to undivided Andhra Pradesh between the newly-formed TS and AP. Posting the next hearing to December 14, the tribunal asked the two states to offer their observations and claims on distribution of the 1,001 tmc ft allocation.

TS, AP plan to move SC on tribunal order
Representatives of TS and AP expressed their disappointment with the verdict and said they would consider moving the Supreme Court. They added that without re-allocation and project specific distribution of Krishna waters among all the four riparian states they would not get justice.

There will be no immediate impact of the verdict, as the notification by the Union government of the final award of the Krishna Waters Dispute Tribunal-2 had been stayed by the Supreme Court on a special leave petition filed by united AP Government. Till the notification is made, KWDT-1, the Bachawat Award, will be in operation for the four states.

Sources said that the Maharashtra and Karnataka governments would move the Supreme Court, requesting it to vacate the stay granted by it as the Justice Brijesh Kumar Tribunal verdict on Wednesday had excluded their states from the ambit of fresh allocation.

The Brijesh Kumar tribunal pronounced its judgement on the matter of interpretation to Section 89 of the AP Reorganisation Act which does not specify whether distribution of Krishna waters will be limited to the two Telugu states or for all the four riparian states.

While both TS and AP have argued that the Act was applicable to all four states, Maharashtra and Karnataka had contended that fresh review should be limited to only the two Telugu states for which the bifurcation Act was meant.

TS irrigation adviser R. Vidyasagara Rao termed the verdict as unfortunate and highly disappointing as it did not consider the injustices pointed out by state government. He said that the state government would consider moving the Supreme Court.

He said that special leave petition filed by the TS government in the Supreme Court was pending. He said, “According to the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal verdict, TS and AP should now fight to get more allocations within the 1,001 tmc ft quota already fixed by the tribunal in 2013. Suppose TS gets a few hundred tmc ft more than AP, how is the tribunal going to adjust that water without cutting AP’s quota?”

Reacting to the verdict, AP water resources minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao said that the Andhra Pradesh government would consult expert engineers and advocates on the issue before going for an appeal.