Image credit : Illustrative Image

Tamil Nadu government has urged the centre not to tinker with the existing Cauvery River Water Disputes Tribunal not the case before it transferred to the proposed Permanent Water Disputes Tribunal.

Arguing against the case for setting up of a permanent water disputes settlement body, Tamil Nadu chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami said in a letter to union minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday. The letter made available to media on Wednesday said that the TN government did not want the Cauvery River Water dispute tribunal diluted on any count and has conveyed its decision to the central government.

In TN government view, there was no need for setting up a permanent water disputes tribunal (PWDT). “I have examined the matter in detail and once again reiterate the decision of the Government of Tamil Nadu that there is no need to constitute a Permanent Water Disputes Tribunal to adjudicate the Inter-State River Water Disputes amongst the States,” Palaniswami told the union minister in his letter. Each and every inter-state water dispute was unique, the chief minister said and the river basis differed widely in the total availability, utilisation and nature of water use.

There are also technical flaws in the proposed permanent body, the chief minister said.

The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was constituted by the central government on apex court’s orders and it shall be in a better position to decide on issues before it, the chief minister said arguing that there was no case for transferring this to the proposed new body.

“Further, the Government of Tamil Nadu conveys its decision that the functioning of the existing Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal should not be hampered in the pretext of transfer of the pending applications to the proposed constitution of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunal,” the chief minister declared.