Why in news?
Recently Union government introduced Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill 2017.
What is interstate river water disputes act?
- The Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 (IRWD Act) is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted under Article 262.
- IRWD Act is applicable only to interstate rivers / river valleys, the Supreme Court and other courts do not have jurisdiction over such disputes but they can interpret verdicts of tribunals.
- Whenever the riparian states are not able to reach amicable agreements on their own in sharing of an interstate river waters, section 4 of IRWD Act provides dispute resolution process in the form of Tribunal.
- The tribunal responsibility is not limited to adjudication of issues raised by the concerned states and also investigation of other aspects which are in public domain.
- When the tribunal final verdict issued based on the deliberations on the draft verdict is accepted by the central government and notified in the official gazette.
- The verdict becomes law and binding on the states for implementation.
What are the provisions included in the amendment?
- Permanent body - The bill proposes a permanent Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunal (ISRWDT).
- In the current arrangement, tribunals are formed when a river water dispute arises.
- The ISRWDT will be an eight-member body comprising serving Supreme Court and high court judges.
- The members will retire when they are 70, there was no such limit earlier.
- Time bound - The entire process is restricted to five-and-half years, taking into account all extensions, there is almost no limit on extensions in the current arrangement.
- Specialized committee - The bill provides for a DRC (Disputes Resolution Committee) to enable negotiated settlements.
- This is an interesting provision, evidently to avoid disputes advancing to the next stage of legal adjudication.
- The bill says the Centre will set up the DRC with “members from such relevant fields, as it deems fit, for resolving the disputes amicably”.
- Data repository - The other much touted provision for a data bank and information system.
- There is a similar provision in the current act as well, but it mandates the Centre to create such a repository.
What are the shortcoming of the bill?
- There is no clear mentioned provisions about speedy resolution of disputes.
- The bill doesn’t fully recognise the need to plug holes in the interstate river water sharing, development and governance.
- The benefits of the amendments will depend on the mechanism’s efficiency.
- In any case of data bank, the challenge is not about gathering data and information, but more about states agreeing over a particular piece of data.
- There are challenges in implementing the tribunal’s awards.
- The ad-hoc mechanisms devised outside this law have not been successful.
Quick fact
Ongoing Interstate water disputes
- Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal Dispute - States involved are Punjab & Haryana
- Cauvery River Dispute - States involved are Karnataka & Tamilnadu
- Krishna River Dispute - States involved are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka
- Godavari River Dispute - States involved are Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Karnataka.
- Mullaiperiyar River Dispute - States involved are Kerala and Tamilnadu
- Mahadayi (or) Mondovi River dispute - States involved are Karnataka, Goa & Maharashtra
- Barak River Dispute - States involved are Manipur & Assam
Ongoing water disputes with neighbouring countries:
- India-China Zangmu dam issue on Brahmaputra river
- India-Pakistan on Indus river (Sutlej tributary)
- India-Bangladesh on Teesta river (originates in zemu glacier, Sikkim)
Source: Indian Express
