PANJIM: All eyes are on the Supreme Court (SC) hearing of the special leave petition (SLP) filed by the Goa government challenging the decision of the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) Award passed in August 2018, on November 29 and 30.
The Court will also hear petitions filed by Karnataka and Maharashtra government challenging the Tribunal’s verdict.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said that the State had filed five different Mhadei-related petitions in the Supreme Court. The government has challenged the Mhadei Tribunal Award, case against Karnataka Wild Life Warden and has also filed a contempt petition against Karnataka for undertaking construction work without obtaining environmental clearances (ECs).
According to Sawant, all the Mhadei river-related cases will be clubbed as a single case by the Apex Court.
The Chief Minister said that Advocate General (AG) Devidas Pangam and the complete panel of advocates are taking serious review of the Mhadei river matter for the past several days and expressed his confidence that the way the cases have been filed, Goa will win them in its favour. “We are very much serious and very much strong,” Sawant added.
Meanwhile, AG Devidas Pangam along with legal team and two consultants Chetan Pandit and M K Shrinivas and Water Resources Chief Engineer Pramod Badami will leave for New Delhi on Tuesday. Senior Advocate Darius Khambata and Adv Venkatesh Dhond representing the State are also expected to reach Delhi on Tuesday.
AG Pangam said, “We are all prepared and set to argue the case if the matter is called out.”
On July 10 this year, the Supreme Court had admitted SLP filed by the Goa government challenging the verdict of the Mhadei Tribunal granting Karnataka 13.42 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) of water for its Kalasa-Bhandura drinking water-cum-irrigation project.
During the last hearing the Court had asked to produce on record the order of the State Chief Wildlife Warden restraining Karnataka from undertaking any construction work of its proposed project without obtaining permission under Section 29 of the Wildlife Protection Act.
Meanwhile, the Jal Shakti Ministry of Government of India has appointed all seven officers to the Mhadei PRAWAH Committee or the Mhadei Water Management Authority. In February this year, the Ministry of Jal Shakti had approved the establishment of Mhadei PRAWAH for compliance and implementation of the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal (MWDT) award. It was notified by May this year.
The meeting of the Mhadei PRAWAH Committee which was scheduled last week was postponed to a later date. The office of the Mhadei PRAWAH Committee has been set up at Sinchai Bhavan (WRD), Porvorim.
