Soon,one water tribunal to replace all

Another former Supreme Court judge,N P Singh,was appointed chairman of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in December 1996. Singh is now 80 and still chairman. And retired judge N S Rao,who is the same age as Singh,has been associated with the tribunal since it was set up in June 1990 to resolve the dispute over sharing of Cauvery water between Kerala,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Puducherry.

The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal is headed by 72-year-old former judge Brijesh Kumar,who has been on the job along with some other former judges since April 2004.

Now,the Ministry of Water Resources MoWR has decided to amend the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act,1956,to replace all such tribunals with a single one. Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told The Indian Express,We would like the disputes to be settled in a time-bound manner. Also,there are certain shortcomings in the present Act.

Sources said the MoWR has already started inter-ministerial consultations about the amendments that it intends to make to the Act. The single tribunal replacing all existing ones will have a maximum of eight members. Disputes would be decided by benches of two members each,who will be advised by two assessors. The tribunal would have to decide every dispute within a maximum of two years,extendable by one year in extreme circumstances. Also,a decision of the tribunal would have the force of a decree or order of the Supreme Court.

Sources said a cabinet note by the MoWR has been sent to various ministries and the amendment Bill is likely to be introduced in the next session of Parliament.