Context:

Interstate (River) Water Disputes (ISWDs) are a continuing challenge to federal water governance in the country.

Water in the Constitution

• Water is a State subject as per entry 17 of the State List and thus states are empowered to enact legislation on water.
  • Entry 17 of the State List deals with water i.e. water supply, irrigation, canal, drainage, embankments, water storage, and water power.
• Entry 56 of the Union List gives power to the Union Government for the regulation and development of inter-state rivers and river valleys to the extent declared by Parliament to be expedient in the public interest.
• Article 262 in the constitution empowers the Parliament to establish a mechanism to resolve Inter-State River Dispute
  • Under this provision an Inter-State Water Dispute Act, 1956, and River Boards Act, 1956 was created.
• India has 25 major river basins, with most rivers flowing across states.

Can Supreme Court interfere

• Article 262 (1) bars the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
• But matters are still being taken thereon legal, jurisdictional, environmental, and constitutional issues.

The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2019

• When a state puts in a request regarding any water dispute, the central government will set up a Disputes Resolution Committee (DRC), to resolve the dispute amicably
• The central government will set up an Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunal, for the adjudication of water disputes. This Tribunal can have multiple benches.
• Under the Bill, the proposed Tribunal must give its decision on the dispute within two years, which may be extended by another year.
• The central government maintains a data bank and information system at the national level for each river basin. The Bill provides that the central government will appoint or authorize an agency to maintain such a data bank.

Principles of water sharing

• The tribunals have been using a number of principles while deciding about water sharing between contending states:
  • The Helsinki rules were issued in 1966
  • United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses was finalized in 1997
  • The World Commission on Dams report came in November 2000
  • The Berlin Rules were issued in 2004.