Centre tasks the KWDT-II with sharing of Krishna waters between TS , AP

The Irrigation officials said the decision will help open new avenues of growth in both the States of Telangana and AP and will be beneficial for the people of both these States, thus helping in building our country stronger.

Hyderabad: The resolution of dispute between the two States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the use, distribution or control of Krishna river waters will now be part of the terms of reference of the Krishna Waters Disputes Tribunal-II. The union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the issue of further Terms of Reference (ToR) to the existing Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) under section 5(1) of the Inter State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956 for its adjudication between the two states. The decision was based on legal opinion given by the Ministry of Law and Justice in light of the issues raised by Government of Telangana in its complaint under section (3) of the Act.

The Irrigation officials said the decision will help open new avenues of growth in both the States of Telangana and AP and will be beneficial for the people of both these States, thus helping in building our country stronger. Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II was constituted by the Central Government on April 2, 2004. Subsequently, on June 2, 2014, Telangana State came into existence as a State of the union of India.

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As per section 89 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act (APRA), 2014, the tenure of the KWDT-II was extended. Subsequently, Government of Telangana (GoT) forwarded a complaint referring the dispute on the use, distribution or control of Krishna river waters to the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) on July 14, 2014.

A Writ Petition was also filed in the matter by the state government in the Supreme Court in 2015. In 2018, the state had requested DoWR, RD & GR, MoJS to refer the complaint to the existing KWDT-II by confining the scope of reference between the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh only. The matter was later discussed in the second meeting of the Apex Council in 2020.

The state government withdrew the Writ Petition in 2021 and the Centre had taken a decision to approve the issue of further Terms of Reference (ToR) to the existing Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) on receipt of the legal opinion of Ministry of Law and Justice (MoL&J) that was sought by the Department of water resources.