The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was introduced in the Lok Sabha.
What are the problems in present set-up?
With increasing demand for water, inter-state river water disputes are on the rise.
The present Inter State River Water Dispute Act, 1956 that provides the legal framework to address such disputes has many drawbacks.
Under the present Act, a separate Tribunal has to be established for each dispute.
There are eight inter-state water dispute tribunals, including the Ravi and Beas Waters Tribunal and Krishna River Water Dispute Tribunal.
Currently there is no time limit for adjudication or publication of reports.
Only three of the eight tribunals have actually given awards accepted by the states.
Tribunals like those on the Cauvery and Ravi Beas have been in existence for over 26 and 30 years respectively without any award.
There is no upper age limit for the chairman or the members.
What are the proposals of the new bill?
The bill proposes a single standing tribunal with multiple benches instead of multiple tribunals that exist at present.
The total time period for adjudication of dispute has been fixed at maximum of 4.5 years.
The decision of the Tribunal shall be final and binding.
There is no requirement of publication in the official gazette
As per the proposed bill, the Tribunal shall have one chairperson, one vice-chairperson and not more than six other members.
It limits the tenure of the chairperson to five years or till they attain the age of 70, whichever is earlier.
The bill also proposes to introduce mechanisms to resolve disputes amicably by negotiations through a Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) before a dispute is referred to the tribunal
DRC to be established by the central government consisting of experts.
It also provides for a transparent data collection system at the national level for each river basin.
It also calls for the appointment of assessors to provide technical support to the tribunal.
An agency to maintain data-bank and information system is to be authorized by central government.
