Quotes Tribunal on Centre’s plea for Rajasthan

To uphold what he calls ‘Punjab’s interests’, Amarinder seems to be either studying lot of case law or has his lawyers plying him with examples which he can quote liberally to buttress his point on the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004. Amarinder today quoted ruling of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal, saying it had rejected the claim of Rajasthan to become a party to the Narmada dispute on the grounds that Rajasthan was not a co-riparian state of Narmada. While the CM did not share the details with the media, The Indian Express later found that the reference was to Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal report’s Volume III, wherein the Tribunal has dwelt in detail upon a reference to it by the Centre regarding making Rajasthan a party to the Narmada dispute.

Commenting on a complaint of Rajasthan referred to it by the Centre, the Tribunal held that non-riparian Rajasthan’s plea to become a party was ultra vires.’

The Tribunal held that Rajasthan was not entitled to any portion of the waters of Narmada basin on the ground that the state was not a co-riparian state.’’ Answering the Centre’s plea of making Rajasthan a party on the grounds of ensuring socio-economic development, the Tribunal said: ‘‘The question before the Tribunal is not whether trans-basin transfer of waters is desirable from socio-economic point of view but whether under the Constitution of India and on a proper interpretation of the 1956 Act, the State, through whose territory an inter-state river does not flow is entitled in law to a share in equitable distribution of its waters.’’