Inter-state River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The Union Cabinet has approved the Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019 that will help adjudicate disputes relating to waters of inter-State rivers and river valleys. The Bill seeks to amend the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

Resolving Water Disputes

• The bill provides for the constitution of a single tribunal with different benches with the strict timelines for adjudication of the disputes.
• This single tribunal will replace the existing dozen tribunals that to resolve disputes among States on sharing water from rivers common to them.
• The standalone tribunal with a permanent establishment and permanent office space and infrastructure will absolve from the need to set up a separate Tribunal for each water dispute which is a time-consuming process.
• Whenever any State Government makes a request in respect of any water dispute on the inter-State rivers and if the Central government is of the opinion that the water dispute cannot be settled by negotiations, the bill provides for setting up of a Dispute Resolution Committee for amicably resolving inter-State water disputes within 18 months.
• Those disputes that cannot be settled by negotiations would be referred to the tribunal for its adjudication.
• The chairperson of the tribunal will assign the dispute to a Bench of the tribunal for adjudication.
• Currently, all tribunals are staffed by members of the judiciary, nominated by the Chief Justice, the bill seeks to change the composition of these tribunals and allows to have a technical expert as the head of the tribunal.

The bill seeks to streamline the adjudication of inter-state river water disputes.