The Water Resource Ministry is seeking Cabinet approval to introduce a change in Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill 2019 regarding the Ravi-Beas water contention adjudication before getting it passed through parliament, most probably in the ongoing monsoon session.

The bill, which intends to set up new bodies to streamline and bring in a uniform framework in water dispute adjudication, will do away with evergreening by introducing timelines for passing orders. Otherwise, water dispute tribunals (WDTs) have taken, from a minimum of seven years as in the case of the Krishna river to a maximum of 28 years in the matter of the Cauvery river to deliver verdicts.

It is learned that the changes sought in the amended bill is pending with the Union Cabinet.

Due to the Rajiv-Longowal Accord of 1985, section 14 was inserted in the principal act to constitute the Ravi-Beas water dispute tribunal (WDT) for deciding the share of rivers’ water between Punjab, Haryana, and other States.   But other WDTs’ names are not mentioned in the Act.

Ministry sources said when the bill was introduced in Lok Sabha last time, they forgot to amend a clause of the proposed Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill 2019. An addition was to be fixed stating that pending proceedings of Ravi-Beas WDT would be transferred to a new tribunal bench which would be constituted after both the Houses clear the proposed legislation.  But, on getting representations from Punjab on the sensitive and emotive issue, the ministry decided to further change the proposed amended bill before bringing it back in Rajya Sabha and subsequently Parliament as a whole for passage, ministry officials said.

Four tribunals – Krishna-II, Mahadayi, Mahanadi, and Ravi-Beas – are functional as of today. Once the amended bill becomes law, their tribunals will be subsumed into the new adjudication architecture which would be raised subsequently. The Vansadhara WDT was, however, dissolved on March 10, this year, after it gave its report.

Though the bill treats tribunal orders as final and at par with the Supreme Court judgment, the fixing of the timeline in giving reports will help States to seek redressal of water-sharing grievances at a faster pace, said a government official. Interestingly, through the Cauvery judgment, the Apex Court has assumed the power of reviewing tribunal orders which otherwise were barred by the Constitution.

The amended bill, accessed by Hindu Business Line, proposes to set up a Disputes Resolution Committee which will be the first body that would attempt to resolve the differences among States through negotiations within 18 months . Failing to do so, the matter would be referred to a single Tribunal, which would have different benches as per requirement, for the hearing and delivering final reports. This is a deviation from the existing law, which offered multiple tribunals for dispute resolution.

The proposed bill also puts a cap of four and a half years in which WDTs have to give reports. Till now, the tribunal proceedings would keep on lingering by seeking unlimited annual extensions after completing the authorised six-year tenure, said ministry sources.

The proposed legislation also intends to curtail the lifelong stints of Chairmen and other members at the tribunals. Now a chairperson, which at the time of appointment has to be a sitting SC judge, and a Vice Chairperson, who too should be a sitting high court judge at the time of appointment, will hold office for five years or till attaining the age of 70.  The term of other members of benches of the tribunal, as per the draft bill, shall be co-terminus with adjudication of the water dispute.

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