Telangana withdraws SC plea on Krishna basin

An application was filed in the Supreme Court on June 9, 2021, withdrawing the writ petition that was filed in 2015, Special Chief Secretary to Government, Irrigation, said in a letter to the Secretary, Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, on Tuesday.

Hyderabad: In a major development, the Telangana government has withdrawn its writ petition filed in the Supreme Court requesting direction to the Central government to refer issues relating to the Krishna Basin to an appropriate Tribunal or the existing Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal – II (KWDT-II).

An application was filed in the Supreme Court on June 9, 2021, withdrawing the writ petition that was filed in 2015, Special Chief Secretary to Government, Irrigation, said in a letter to the Secretary, Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, on Tuesday.

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While the petition was pending before the apex court, the Centre filed an affidavit on December 8, 2015, stating that the KWDT-II would be the competent authority to determine the share of successor States of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh without disturbing allocations made to other States under Section-89 of AP Reorganization Act-2014.

Three letters were addressed to the Centre from July 2018 including one written by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on December 26, 2018, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting that the Centre refer the complaint of Telangana to KWDT-II, limiting the issues raised in the complaint between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

During the second meeting of the Apex Council held on October 6, 2020, the issue was again raised by Telangana. The Union Minister concluded that to consider the request of Telangana for a Tribunal under Section-3 of the ISRWD Act-1956, it should withdraw its case filed before the Supreme Court on the subject.

After receiving the assurance that the Ministry of Jal Shakti will seek legal opinion on whether a new Tribunal has to be appointed or new terms of reference can be issued to KWDT-II to hear the matter, the Telangana Chief Minister agreed to withdraw the case in the Supreme Court.
Consequently, based on the assurance, Telangana filed an Interlocutory Application (IA) before the SC withdrawing the writ petition. The Special Chief Secretary requested the Ministry to take steps to refer Section-3 limiting the scope between successor States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to the existing KWDT-lI which is presently considering the reference under Section-89 of the Act as this would also avoid duplication of inquiry and multiplicity of proceedings.