The Supreme Court has asked if the States of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka could amicably settle their quarrel over the allocation of the Krishna river water.

Krishna River Dispute

• The Krishna is an east-flowing river that originates at Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra and merges with the Bay of Bengal, flowing through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and AP.
• Together with its tributaries, it forms a vast basin that covers 33% of the total area of the four states.
• A dispute over the sharing of Krishna waters has been ongoing for many decades, beginning with the erstwhile Hyderabad and Mysore states, and later continuing between successors.

Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal

• In 1969, the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) was set up under the Inter-State River Water Dispute Act, 1956, and presented its report in 1973.
• The report, which was published in 1976, divided the 2060 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of Krishna water at 75 percent dependability into three parts.
• It was 560 TMC for Maharashtra, 700 TMC for Karnataka, and 800 TMC for Andhra Pradesh.
• At the same time, it was stipulated that the KWDT order may be reviewed or revised by a competent authority or tribunal any time after May 31, 2000.
• Afterward, as new grievances arose between the states, the second KWDT was instituted in 2004.
• It delivered its report in 2010, which made allocations of the Krishna water at 65 percent dependability and for surplus flows as follows: 81 TMC for Maharashtra, 177 TMC for Karnataka, and 190 TMC for Andhra Pradesh.

Row over the share

• Andhra Pradesh has since asked that Telangana be included as a separate party at the KWDT and that the allocation of Krishna waters be reworked among four states, instead of three.
• Maharashtra and Karnataka are now resisting this move since Telangana was created following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
• Therefore, the allocation of water should be from Andhra Pradesh’s share which was approved by the tribunal.

Duo’s stance

• It is relying on Section 89 of The Andhra Pradesh State Reorganization Act, 2014, which reads:
• The term of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal shall be extended with the following terms of reference, namely:

1. shall make a project-wise specific allocation, if such allocation has not been made by a Tribunal constituted under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956;
2. shall determine an operational protocol for project-wise release of water in the event of deficit flows.

• For the purposes of this section, it is clarified that the project-specific awards already made by the Tribunal on or before the appointed day shall be binding on the successor States.

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