Mahanadi tribunal gets Central nod

Mahanadi tribunal gets Central nod

Context:

The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a tribunal to settle a row between Odhisa and Chhattisgarh on sharing the waters of the Mahanadi River.

What will be the role of the Tribunal?

The tribunal is expected to determine water sharing among basin States on the basis of the overall availability of water in the complete Mahanadi basin, the contribution of each State, the present utilisation of water resource in each State and the potential for future development

Background:

• The Odhisa government had moved to the Supreme Court in December 2016, for an order asking Chhattisgarh to stop construction of barrages upstream of Mahanadi saying it affected the river flow in Odhisa
• The Supreme Court in January had order the Centre to set up a tribunal in response to a plea by the Odhisa government to stop the Chhattisgarh government from constructing several weirs on the river.
• The order on constituting a new tribunal has come even as the government plans to introduce a new bill that would have a single tribunal to replace all existing water tribunals.

About the Bill:

• The bill, called the Inter-State River Disputes (Amendment) Bill, was introduced in the Lok Sabha by former Water Resources Minister in March 2017
• The proposed Bill has provisions for members, even a chairperson, outside the judiciary.
• The Bill could affect the composition of the members of various tribunals.

Note: Currently, all tribunals are staffed by members of the judiciary, nominated by the Chief Justice.

Rationale behind setting up single tribunal:

• The driving motive behind such a tribunal was that tribunals had a decades-long history of being “extremely inefficient” at settling disputes quickly and fairly
• According to the provisions of the Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act, 1956, the tribunal is required to submit its report and decision within a period of three years, which can be extended for a period not exceeding two years. However, there have always been delays
• The delays are on account of there being no time limit for adjudication by a tribunal, no upper age limit for the Chairman or the Members, work stalling due to occurrence of vacancy and no time limit for publishing the report of the tribunal