Interstate water disputes bill

Why in news?

Recently Union government introduced Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill 2017.

What is interstate river water disputes act?

The Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 (IRWD Act) is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted under Article 262.
IRWD Act is applicable only to interstate rivers / river valleys, the Supreme Court and other courts do not have jurisdiction over such disputes but they can interpret verdicts of tribunals.
Whenever the riparian states are not able to reach amicable agreements on their own in sharing of an interstate river waters, section 4 of IRWD Act provides dispute resolution process in the form of Tribunal.
The tribunal responsibility is not limited to adjudication of issues raised by the concerned states and also investigation of other aspects which are in public domain.
When the tribunal final verdict issued based on the deliberations on the draft verdict is accepted by the central government and notified in the official gazette.
The verdict becomes law and binding on the states for implementation.

What are the provisions included in the amendment?

Permanent body - The bill proposes a permanent Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunal (ISRWDT).
In the current arrangement, tribunals are formed when a river water dispute arises.
The ISRWDT will be an eight-member body comprising serving Supreme Court and high court judges.
The members will retire when they are 70, there was no such limit earlier.
Time bound - The entire process is restricted to five-and-half years, taking into account all extensions, there is almost no limit on extensions in the current arrangement.
Specialized committee - The bill provides for a DRC (Disputes Resolution Committee) to enable negotiated settlements.
This is an interesting provision, evidently to avoid disputes advancing to the next stage of legal adjudication.
The bill says the Centre will set up the DRC with “members from such relevant fields, as it deems fit, for resolving the disputes amicably”.
Data repository - The other much touted provision for a data bank and information system.
There is a similar provision in the current act as well, but it mandates the Centre to create such a repository.

What are the shortcoming of the bill?

There is no clear mentioned provisions about speedy resolution of disputes.
The bill doesn’t fully recognise the need to plug holes in the interstate river water sharing, development and governance.
The benefits of the amendments will depend on the mechanism’s efficiency.
In any case of data bank, the challenge is not about gathering data and information, but more about states agreeing over a particular piece of data.
There are challenges in implementing the tribunal’s awards.
The ad-hoc mechanisms devised outside this law have not been successful.

Quick fact

Ongoing Interstate water disputes

Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal Dispute - States involved are Punjab & Haryana
Cauvery River Dispute - States involved are Karnataka & Tamilnadu
Krishna River Dispute - States involved are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka
Godavari River Dispute - States involved are Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Karnataka.
Mullaiperiyar River Dispute - States involved are Kerala and Tamilnadu
Mahadayi (or) Mondovi River dispute - States involved are Karnataka, Goa & Maharashtra
Barak River Dispute - States involved are Manipur & Assam

Ongoing water disputes with neighbouring countries:

Source: Indian Express