New Delhi, Apr 04: The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition challenging the setting up of the Cauvery River Water Dispute Tribunal in 1991 to adjudicate the disputes on sharing of the river water between states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondicherry. A bench comprising Chief Justice V N Khare, Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice Arijit Pasayat said petitioner Gandhi Sahitya Sangh had no "locus standi" to challenge the legality of the tribunal which was constituted on the orders of the Apex Court. The bench said the tribunal had started functioning long back and had given an interim award as well on the sharing of water and added that it saw no reason to entertain the petition. The petitioner said the Inter-State River Water Disputes (IRWD) Act, 1956, under which the tribunal was constituted, should also be declared unconstitutional as the disputes between states on river water should be referred to a river board under the river boards act. It said the act had been completely given a go by, by the states as well as the union government and hence all the interim awards made by the tribunal constituted illegally should also be quashed.
Bureau Report