SC seeks report on dispute between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka over sharing of Pennaiyar river water

Supreme Court grants Union two weeks to produce report on Tamil Nadu-Karnataka river water dispute negotiations.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (November 26, 2024) asked the Union government to place on record the report prepared by a committee negotiating a dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the sharing of the Pennaiyar river water.

The matter was before a Bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S.V.N. Bhatti, which granted two weeks’ time to the Union (which facilitated the mediation) to produce the Negotiation Committee’s report.

The States had moved into the negotiation mode after Karnataka took the initiative, after the formation of the new government in the State in May 2023, to try and resolve the dispute through talks.

The court had in January 2024 directed the Union government to constitute a new negotiation committee under Section 4 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956 to make a serious endeavour for a resolution between the two States.

In 2018, Tamil Nadu moved the court against Karnataka’s work on check dams and diversions’ structures on the river. The State had told the Supreme Court that Karnataka had no right to utilise the waters of Pennaiyar river to the detriment of the people of Tamil Nadu. The flowing water of an Inter-State river is a national asset and no single State can claim exclusive ownership of its water, Tamil Nadu had argued.

Tamil Nadu had argued that an 1892 agreement over the river water was “valid and binding” on the party States. It had said a river even included the stream, tributaries and other streams contributing water directly or indirectly into it.

“Thus, the major tributary, Markandeyanadhi, which has its catchment area both in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, cannot be considered to be out of the purview of the Agreement, and hence any new construction obstructing the flow of Markandeya river is governed and controlled by 1892 Agreement,” Tamil Nadu had argued.