PANAJI
The Government of Goa will do everything possible to ensure that the business conducted by the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal will be kept out from a proposed Permanent Inter States Water disputes Tribunal, Minister for Water Resources Dayanand Mandrekar told the Goa State Legislative Assembly.
Mandrekar was replying to a calling attention motion moved by the Leader of Opposition Pratapsingh Rane, who said that moving the case before a fresh tribunal would harm Goa’s case.
The Central government has proposed setting up a permanent Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunal for adjudication of water disputes. Among the amendments to the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 is a clause which states that no sooner does the permanent tribunal become effective “all existing tribunals shall stand dissolved and the water disputes pending adjudication before such existing tribunals shall stand transferred to the tribunal.”
“Goa apprehends that in the event all existing tribunals are dissolved, all the time and resources already spent by the State of Goa in preparing to present the case before the existing Mhadei Tribunal will turn infructuous and hence (we have) asked Niti Aayog to reconsider Section 4 of the amendment to exclude the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal that has already progressed with substantial business from the preview of the proposed amendment,” Mandrekar told the House.
The State has received a letter from the secretary of Niti Aayog asking for comments of the Goa Government on the amendments that the union ministry of Water Resources were intending to make.
