The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred its hearing on formation of a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Sources said the hearing was deferred due to the absence of the two-Judge Bench formed for the purpose.
The Bench comprising Justices SA Bobde and l Nageswara Rao was scheduled to conduct the hearing. Attorney General KK Venugopal was to clarify the Centre’s stand over the matter on the day.
The court had on December 11, 2017 directed the Union Ministry of Water Resources to file a detailed report on formation of a tribunal by the third week of January, failing which the court would hear the case on the basis of merit.
The court had expressed its displeasure over the Centre’s negligence in not projecting a clear picture on formation of a tribunal to resolve the inter-State Mahanadi water dispute.
Odisha has been opposing Chhattisgarh’s plans to construct projects upstream of the Mahanadi. Odisha has said this would lead to shortage of water and have disastrous consequences for the farmers in the State. It has urged the Union Government to form a tribunal to resolve the issue at the earliest.
However, the Centre has been saying that the ongoing dispute should be sorted out through mutual discussions between the two concerned States. Besides, it has blamed the Odisha Government over failure of the earlier talks on the issue.