Arguments commence in Supreme Court on AP’s petition against FToR issued to KWDT-II

AP had filed the writ petition on October 17, 2023, urging the court to quash gazette notification and halt proceedings of KWDT-II under the FToRs

Hyderabad: Arguments were heard in Supreme Court on Wednesday on writ petition (WP) No .1230/2023 filed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh challenging the Union government’s Gazette Notification October 6, 2023. The Centre has issued Further Terms of Reference (FToRs) to the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) through the notification, based on Section-3 complaint lodged by the Government of Telangana in 2014.

The Section-3 complaint pertains to a provision under the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956 which allows the State government to request the Union government to refer a water dispute to a tribunal for adjudication. In this case, the Government of Telangana filed a complaint in 2014 under Section-3 of the ISRWD Act, seeking equitable allocation of Krishna River waters between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

---

AP filed the writ petition on October 17, 2023, urging the court to quash the gazette notification and halt proceedings of KWDT-II under the FToRs. The Supreme Court, however, declined AP’s request for a stay while asking the petitioner to participate in the proceedings before the Tribunal subject to final outcome of these proceedings. Proceedings are set to continue on Thursday too.