Krishna River water dispute: Karnataka urges SC to set up bench for hearing the case

A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli said it will consider setting up the bench for the case. 

"We will look into this," the CJI said after senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Karnataka, mentioned the matter for setting up of the bench after bench of Justice DY Chandrachud, hailing from Maharashtra, and Justice AS Bopanna, who belongs to Karnataka, had on January 10 recused from the case. 

CJI also inquired whether the parties can amicably settle the dispute. Divan replied that the main issue would require adjudication from the bench itself and some of the ancillary matters may be settled. 

The dispute is over the allocation of water of the Krishana river, flowing in states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.

In the top court, Karnataka had sought the vacation of its November 16, 2011 order that restrained the Central government from publishing in the official gazette the final order of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal II (KWDT) pronounced in 2010, allocating the river water to Karnataka, erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. 

The tribunal had also modified its final order and report on November 29, 2013 to allot surplus water to Karnataka, Maharashtra, and the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh while preserving the allocation of 2,130 TMC already made among them. 

The publication of the tribunal order is a necessary precondition for its implementation. However, following the bifurcation of unified Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had moved to court challenging the KWDT's allocation of share. 

It had been contended by Karnataka that thousands of crores of its dam and irrigation projects to provide water to its parched northern areas were stalled for all these years because of the 2011 order to not publish the KWDT decisions in the Official Gazette under Section 6(1) of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956. 

Karnataka had said that the dispute raised by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was between them and did not concern it.