The Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 (IRWD Act) is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted under Article 262 of Constitution of India on the eve of reorganization of states on linguistic basis to resolve the water disputes that would arise in the use, control and distribution of an interstate river [1] or river valley. [2] Article 262 of the Indian Constitution provides a role for the union government in adjudicating conflicts surrounding interstate rivers that arise among the state/regional governments. [3] This Act further has undergone amendments subsequently and its most recent amendment took place in the year 2002.
River waters use / harnessing is included in states jurisdiction (entry 17 of state list, Schedule 7 of Indian Constitution). However, the union government with parliament approval can make laws on regulation and development of interstate rivers and river valleys to the extent such water resources are directly under its control when expedient in the public interest (entry 56 of union list, Schedule 7 of Indian Constitution). Damodar Valley Corporation, NHPC, River Boards Act 1956, etc under the control of the union government, are referable to Entry 56 of the union list. [4] When union government wants to take over an interstate river project under its control by law (as provided in the constitution) from states per entry 56 of the union list, it has to take the approval of the riparian states' legislature assemblies before passing such bill in the Parliament per Article 252 of the constitution. When public interest is served, President may also establish an interstate council as per Article 263 to inquire and recommend the dispute that has arisen between the states of India.
IRWD Act (section 2c2) validates the previous agreements (if any) among the basin states to harness the water of an interstate river/ river valley. This act is confined to states of India and not applicable to union territories. Only concerned state governments are entitled to participate in the tribunal adjudication and non-government entities are not permitted.
Any river water sharing treaty made with other countries, has to be ratified by the Parliament per Article 253 after deciding the share of the Indian riparian states per Article 262 to make the treaty constitutionally valid or enforceable by the judiciary as India follows dualist theory for the implementation of international treaties/laws. The Indian government has signed Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, Ganga water sharing treaty with Bangladesh, etc. without the ratification by the Parliament and the consent of the concerned riparian states per Article 252.
The Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 | |
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Parliament of India | |
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Citation | Act No. 33 of 1956 |
Enacted by | Parliament of India |
Assented to | 28 August 1956 |
IRWD Act is applicable only to interstate rivers/river valleys. An action of one state should affect the interests of one or more other states. Then only water dispute is deemed to have arisen under IRWD Act (section 3). It can be divided into two independent parts for clarity purpose in understanding the techno-legal application of the IRWD Act.
A downstream state's action can affect the upstream state's interest only in one case. i.e. when a downstream state is building a dam/barrage near its state boundary and submerging the territory of an upstream state on permanent/temporary basis. Other than this action, no other action of a downstream state could affect the upstream state's interest which they have been using for economic, ecological and spiritual/ religious aspects. The meaning of the word ‘interest’ in this context is concern/importance/significance/relevance / consequence of losing the prevailing water use or purpose.
Whereas all the actions of an upstream state to use or control or distribute the water of an interstate river can affect the downstream states in one way or other. The following are some examples but not complete:
Generally, river water is transferred to water deficit areas for use after creating the infrastructure for its storage (water reservoirs) and distribution network (canals, pipelines, groundwater charging, etc.). All these acts fall under the river water distribution and control category under IRWD Act. All the above actions of an upstream state are legal causes of water dispute to the downstream states since their existing interests are affected as given below:
The use or control or distribution of river water in an upstream state is invariably denial of prevailing use/purpose in the downstream state as it is altering the natural flow regime of river water with respect to quantity, quality and time of availability in downstream states. Also dam failures in upstream states can create flash floods or further dam failures in downstream states causing unprecedented property damage and loss of human lives. [9] IRWD Act (section 3) clearly stipulates that mere anticipation of a riparian state actions which can affect other riparian state interests is enough to raise interstate water dispute.
The activities of an upstream state without affecting downstream states' interests are peak flood control measures by impounding the flood waters only (not base flows) in 100% or more capacity storage reservoirs for use without affecting water quality appreciably and run-off hydropower generation took up in its territory.
Whenever the riparian states are not able to reach amicable agreements on their own in sharing of interstate river waters, section 4 of the IRWD Act provides a dispute resolution process in the form of a Tribunal. [10] As per section 5.2 of the Act, the tribunal shall not only adjudicate but also investigate the matters referred to it by the union government and forward a report setting out the facts with its decisions. It implies that the tribunal's responsibility is not limited to adjudication of issues raised by the concerned states and also the investigation of other aspects which are in the public domain such as water pollution, salt export requirement, water quality deterioration, flood control, sustainability of river basin productivity & its ecology, environmental flow requirements, climate change effects, etc. [11] When the tribunal final verdict issued based on the deliberations on the draft verdict is accepted by the union government and notified in the official gazette, the verdict becomes law and binding on the states and union government for implementation. In case the constitutional rights of states are ingressed upon by the tribunal award in any manner, the union government is obliged to take the consent of parliament and all riparian states under Article 252 of the constitution before publishing the tribunal awards in the official gazette. [12] When pronounced in the ambit of IRWD Act and the Indian constitution, the tribunal's verdict after its publication in the official gazette is equivalent to Supreme Court verdict as per section 6 of IRWD Act.
This amendment (second para of section 4 (1) of the Act) specifically does not permit altering the prevailing tribunal verdicts issued before the year 2002 (i.e. but not the tribunal awards issued after the year 2002). [2] Thus this amendment bars the tribunals to give any time period/validity for constituting a new tribunal. This is to keep provision to resolve freshwater disputes which were not addressed by earlier tribunals/ agreements as and when they surface.
A permanent water dispute tribunal, with its members from sitting/retired judges of Supreme Court or High courts (maximum five including chairman and vice chairman) and technical experts (maximum three), is proposed to resolve the growing number of interstate river water disputes expeditiously. [13] [14] A tribunal bench shall have one technical expert member and one judicial member with the chairman or vice chairman out of the members of the permanent water dispute tribunal.
Section 5 (2a) of the amended Act mandated that the tribunal report shall also prescribe for the distribution of water among the states during distress situations arising from a shortage in river water availability.
The Union government is contemplating bringing a new act in place of the River Boards Act, 1956 which is presently purely an advisory body of the union government. The new bill called "River basin Management Bill" would constitute River Basin Organisations for each interstate river basin with a two-tier structure. The lower tier 'Executive Board' of a river basin is represented by various relevant faculties from each riparian state including the union government. The top tier called the 'Governing Council' of a river basin will have all chief ministers of riparian states as its members to arrive at unanimous decisions. In case of no consensus decision, the dispute would be referred to the tribunal formed under Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956. [15]
Inter-State River Water Disputes Amendment Bill, 2019 : The Inter-State River Water Disputes Amendment Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on 25 July 2019 by the minister of Jal Shakti, Mr.Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. It amends the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956. The Act provides for the adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter-state rivers and river valleys.
Parliament passed the Dams Safety Act, 2021 under article 256 to monitor the safety of aging dams located on all rivers of India. [16] As it is covering all the rivers in India instead of interstate rivers, a petition was filed in High Court against such act challenging its constitutional validity. [17]
Till now three tribunal awards are notified in official gazette by the Government of India. [18] These are water dispute tribunals allocating river water use by the riparian states for Krishna (tribunal 1), [19] Godavari [19] and Narmada [19] rivers. All these tribunal awards were issued before the year 2002 which cannot be altered by the new tribunals. The tribunals formed on sharing water of Ravi & Beas rivers, Cauvery / Kaveri river, [20] Vamsadhara River, [21] Mahadayi / Mandovi River [22] and Krishna River (tribunal 2 ) are either yet to pronounce the verdicts or the issued verdicts are to be accepted by the Government of India.
Cauvery water disputes tribunal order was notified by the GoI on 20 February 2013 and later Supreme Court amended the tribunal order. [23]
The Vamsadhara tribunal pronounced its final verdict in September 2017 and permitted AP state to construct the side weir at Katragedda and Neradi barrage. [24]
In March 2018, Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal is formed under the direction of the Supreme Court to adjudicate water sharing dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh states. [25]
The Mahadayi Water Tribunal pronounced its final verdict in August 2018 and permitted Karnataka state to use water outside the basin for drinking water use. [26] The tribunal has not vacated the stay order on the execution of works by Karnataka till the verdict is notified by a gazette order by the Union.
Under Section 6A of this Act, central government may frame a scheme or schemes to give effect to the decision of a tribunal. Each scheme has a provision to establish an authority for the implementation of a tribunal verdict. However, every scheme and all its regulations shall be approved by the parliament. When a tribunal verdict, after formally gazetted by the union government, stipulates to establish the verdict implementation authority/board, the same shall be complied by the union government as the tribunal verdict is equal to Supreme Court verdict. As per Articles 53 & 142 of the constitution, it is the duty of the President to enforce the tribunal/supreme court order/verdict without time delay till the Parliament, under Section 6A of this Act, decides against or makes modifications to the already established implementation board/authority. [27]
In the case of the Cauvery River basin, SC directed the GoI to set up a temporary Supervisory Committee to implement the tribunal order till the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board by GoI. GoI established the said temporary Supervisory Committee on 22 May 2013. [28] In the case of Babli barrage dispute, SC itself constituted the Supervisory Committee to implement the water sharing agreement between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in middle Godavari sub-basin. [29]
After nearly 7 years, the KRMB and Godavari River Management Board are notified by the central govt as autonomous bodies and their project-wise functions are stipulated for implementation. [30]
Under Section 9A of this Act, the central government shall maintain a data bank and information system at the national level for each river basin. State governments shall provide all the data regarding water resources, land, agriculture and matters related thereto as requested by the central government. The central government is also vested with powers to verify the data supplied by the state governments. However, many state governments, e.g., Maharashtra, Chattishgarh, etc have not been furnishing the land use data in their states (Tables 14 to 16 of Integrated Hydrological Data Book, 2012) and Central Water Commission of MoWR is not pursuing the matter earnestly to get the data which is vital in water resources planning. [31]
The Godavari is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakeshwar, Nashik, Maharashtra. It flows east for 1,465 kilometres (910 mi), draining the states of Maharashtra (48.6%), Telangana (18.8%), Andhra Pradesh (4.5%), Chhattisgarh (10.9%) and Odisha (5.7%). The river ultimately empties into the Bay of Bengal through an extensive network of distributaries. Measuring up to 312,812 km2 (120,777 sq mi), it forms one of the largest river basins in the Indian subcontinent, with only the Ganga and Indus rivers having a larger drainage basin. In terms of length, catchment area and discharge, the Godavari is the largest in peninsular India, and had been dubbed as the Dakshina Ganga.
The Kaveri is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri River rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range in the Western Ghats, Kodagu district of the state of Karnataka, at an elevation of 1,341 m above mean sea level and flows for about 800 km before its outfall into the Bay of Bengal. It reaches the sea in Poompuhar, in Mayiladuthurai district. It is the third largest river – after Godavari and Krishna – in southern India, and the largest in the state of Tamil Nadu, which, on its course, bisects the state into north and south. In ancient Tamil literature, the river was also called Ponni.
Water right in water law is the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentious. In other areas, especially arid areas where irrigation is practiced, such systems are often the source of conflict, both legal and physical. Some systems treat surface water and ground water in the same manner, while others use different principles for each.
The Mandovi, also known as the Mhadei, is a river described as the lifeline of the Indian state of Goa. The Mandovi and the Zuari are the two principal rivers in the state of Goa. Mandovi joins with the Zuari at a common creek at Cabo Aguada, forming the Mormugao harbour. Panaji, the state capital and Old Goa, the former capital of Goa, are both situated on the left bank of the Mandovi.
Nizam Sagar Dam is an Indian dam named after the Nizam of Hyderabad. It is a reservoir constructed across the Manjira River, a tributary of the Godavari River, between Achampet and BanjePally villages of the Kamareddy district in Telangana, India. It is located at about 144 km (89 mi) north-west of Hyderabad. Nizam Sagar is the oldest dam in the state of Telangana.
The Sriram Sagar Project is also known as the Pochampadu Project is an Indian flood-flow project on the Godavari. The Project is located in Nizamabad district, 3 km away from National Highway 44. It has been described by The Hindu as a "lifeline for a large part of Telangana".
The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960 by then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then Pakistani president Ayub Khan.
The sharing of waters of the Kaveri River has been the source of a serious conflict between the two Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The genesis of this conflict rests in two agreements in 1892 and 1924 between the Madras Presidency and Kingdom of Mysore. The 802 kilometres (498 mi) Kaveri river has 44,000 km2 basin area in Tamil Nadu and 32,000 km2 basin area in Karnataka. The annual inflow from Karnataka is 425 TMCft (12 km3) whereas that from Tamil Nadu is 252 TMCft (7.1 km3).
Government of India constituted a common tribunal on 10 April 1969 to adjudicate the river water utilization disputes among the river basin states of Krishna and Godavari rivers under the provisions of Interstate River Water Disputes Act – 1956. The common tribunal was headed by Sri RS Bachawat as its chairman with Sri DM Bhandari and Sri DM Sen as its members. Krishna river basin states Maharashtra, Karnataka and old Andhra Pradesh insisted on the quicker verdict as it had become more expedient for the construction of irrigation projects in Krishna basin. So the proceedings of Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) were taken up first separately and its final verdict was submitted to GoI on 27 May 1976.
The Babli project / barrage is a controversial reservoir project being constructed by Maharashtra across the river Godavari, disputed by Telangana. The Supreme Court of India delivered a ruling after seven years in favour of Maharashtra with the Andhra Pradesh government expected to appeal against it.
River Vamsadhara or River Banshadhara is an important east flowing river between Rushikulya and Godavari, in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states in India.
The Polavaram Project is an under construction multi-purpose irrigation project on the Godavari River in the Eluru District and East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh. The project has been accorded National project status by the Central Government of India. Its reservoir back water spreads up to the Dummugudem Anicut and approx 115 km on Sabari River side. Thus back water spreads into parts of Chhattisgarh and Odisha States. It gives major boost to tourism sector in Godavari Districts as the reservoir covers the famous Papikonda National Park, Polavaram hydro electric project (HEP) and National Waterway 4 are under construction on left side of the river. It is located 40 km to the upstream of Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage in Rajamahendravaram City and 25 km from Rajahmundry Airport.
The Pranahita Chevella Lift Irrigation Project is a lift irrigation project to harness the water of Pranahita tributary of Godavari river for use in the Telangana state of India. The river water diversion barrage across the Pranahita river is located at Thammidihatti village in Komaram Bheem district of Telangana. This lift canal is an inter river basin transfer link by feeding Godavari river water to Krishna river basin. The chief ministers of Telangana and Maharashtra states reached an agreement in 2016 to limit the full reservoir level (FRL) of the barrage at 148 m msl with 1.85 tmcft storage capacity. In the year 2016, this project is divided into two parts. The scheme with diversion canal from the Thammmidihatti barrage to connect to existing Yellampalli reservoir across the Godavari river is presently called Pranahita barrage lift irrigation project. This scheme is confined to providing irrigation facility to nearly 2,00,000 acres in Adilabad district using 44 tmcft water.
Icchampally Project was a multi-purpose project proposed in 2008, with hydro electricity generation, irrigation, flood control, etc. benefits on the River Godavari in India. This project is proposed as joint project of Telangana, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh states.
The Government of India (GoI) constituted a common tribunal on 10 April 1969 to solve the river water utilization disputes about the river basin states of Godavari and Krishna rivers under the provisions of Interstate River Water Disputes Act – 1956. The common tribunal was headed by Sri RS Bachawat as its chairman with Sri DM Bhandari and Sri DM Sen as its members. Godavari river basin spreads through the states of Telangana (TS), Maharashtra (MR), Orissa, old Madhya Pradesh {later bifurcated into present Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Chhattisgarh}, Karnataka (K) and Andhra Pradesh (AP). Krishna river basin states Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh insisted on the quicker verdict as it had become more expedient for the construction of irrigation projects in Krishna basin. So the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) could not proceed till the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal final verdict was submitted to GoI on 27 May 1976.
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014, commonly known as the Telangana Act, is an Act of Indian Parliament that split the state of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh state, as an outcome of the Telangana movement. The Act defined the boundaries of the two states, determined how the assets and liabilities were to be divided, and laid out the status of Hyderabad as the permanent capital of new Telangana state and temporary capital of the Andhra Pradesh state.
The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal (MWDT), also referred to as the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal, is a tribunal that adjudicates the dispute over River Mhadei water allocation.
The 2018 Kaveri River water sharing protests are a series of ongoing protests on the issue of water sharing problems from the River Kaveri between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka which are two states in India. The Kaveri water dispute has been a major controversial issue between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the years and the issue has been raised further with protests have been conducted across the state of Tamil Nadu by several groups including from the large pile of actors and directors who have temporarily stopped working on their projects, films over the Karnataka's sharing the Kaveri water to Tamil Nadu. The delay in establishing a Cauvery Management Board in order to share equal river share award has sparked off protests in Tamil Nadu against the Karnataka state government.
Jogulamba Barrage is a proposed barrage across Krishna River with full pond level (FPL) 274m. It would be located at Veltoor village, Peddamandadi mandal, Wanaparthy district, Telangana, India. This barrage is proposed to divert 3 TMC of water via lift to Yedula Reservoir being built as part of Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme. This would also provide water for Dindi Lift Irrigation Project and Mahatma Gandhi Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme.