Sowmiya Rajendrakumar
Published on July 31, 2022 at 19:09 IST
The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, directed status quo on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP), including land acquisition process with respect to the said project.
The KLIP, at present envisages providing irrigation facilities by diverting 3 TMC of water per day from inter-state River Godavari till State of Telangana exhausts the entirety of its annual entitlement of the inter-state river water i.e. 240 TMC of water.
A Bench comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, A.S.Oka and J.B. Pardiwala clarified that all steps taken by the concerned authorities in respect of KLIP would be subject to its final decision.
Bench observed “Issue notice returnable on 23rd August…In the meantime, status quo, as of today, shall be maintained by the parties in all respects. It is further made clear that all steps taken by the concerned authorities with regard to the subject matter of these petitions shall be subject to outcome of these petitions.”
Senior Advocate, Mr. Ranjit Kumar, appearing on behalf of the petitioners argued that the High Court has erroneously found the lis to be inter-state water dispute, when the dispute really revolves around whether State of Telangana can draw one additional MC of water per day from river Godavari for KLIP without the required statutory clearances. The petitioners, he added, had not challenged the right of the State to draw additional water.
Finding merit in the argument, the Bench agreed to consider the matter. Mr. Kumar sought a stay on the project till the final disposal of the petition. The Bench enquired if the High Court had granted a stay when the matter was pending before it.
Mr. Vaidyanthan submitted that “We have already passed the award. If they are willing to take compensation then why should we. Kindly appreciate that the whole thing is political.”
Senior Advocate, Mr. C.S. Vaidyanthan appearing on behalf of the State of Telangana informed the Bench that stay was granted on the acquisition notification.
The petition was drawn by Advocate, Mr. Basa Mithun Shashank and filed by Advocate-on-Record, Mr. Vikas Mehta.
