New Delhi, Aug 23: The Union Cabinet today approved constitution of the tribunal headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to resolve Krishna water dispute among the riparian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It will consist of a chairman, who would be a retired Supreme Court judge, and would comprise two other members who would either be sitting judges of the apex court or a high court, parliamentary affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters.

The tribunal was being constituted by the Centre as it received requests from the three riparian states to that effect.

Under the inter-state river water disputes act of 1956, if the Centre was of the opinion that the water dispute could not be settled through negotiations, it should within a period of one year of receiving such a request set up a tribunal.

The Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal established in 1969 had given its award in 1976 and had stated that in the year 2002, the award could be reviewed. The three states made their request thereafter.

The Krishna flows from the Western Ghats in Maharashtra and goes through Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh before moving into the Bay of Bengal. Majors tributaries of the river Tungabhadra, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha, Vedawati and Koyna.
The Krishna basin has a total area of 2,58,948 sq. km. Of which 26.81 per cent lies in Maharashtra, 43.74 in Karnataka and 29.45 in Andhra Pradesh.

Bureau Report