TS in a bind over Krishna water row

Supreme Court grappling with the vexatious issue of Krishna river water sharing among the States concerned

New Delhi: How should Telangana State be recognised legally? As a State carved out of the previous united Andhra Pradesh or as a new State born of the Indian Republic and more specifically, as a new State of the Krishna Basin?

That is what the apex court is ready to grapple with now after hearing the arguments of the Telangana government on Wednesday in the Krishna River Waters Dispute case.

A two-member bench consisting Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice Vikramjit Sen Wednesday adjourned the case to October 15 to decide on whether the dispute should be treated as an Inter-State dispute among the four States of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh or as a dispute between the two Telugu States.

Maharashtra and Karnataka have been consistently arguing that the earlier Krishna Water Tribunal allocations were final and the same should not be tampered with as Telangana was geographically part of the same area and that the allocation to the erstwhile AP should be shared by the two.

However, senior counsel, Vaidyanathan, continuing his arguments on behalf of the Telangana government said the new State should not be treated as a part of the previous bigger State or carved out of the same.

The new State happened because of the injustices meted to it in the larger State in the form of deprivation of the river waters. Telangana should be treated as a new State in India and in the Krishna River Basin and hence,

there should be a review of water allocations of the four States now. This could be done through the constitution of a new Tribunal too, he argued.

The bench, which was earlier told by the Central government that the vacancy in the Tribunal had been filled with the appointment of Justice Rammohan Reddy of the Karnataka High Court on September 24, agreed to look into the issue on October 15.